Dark Phoenix
by Silver Phoenix 117
Summary: A nameless eighteen year old girl, her sight taken by fire, is thrust into the vampiric world. Sold as a slave to one of the most powerful vampires in the trade, she must learn to trust the creatures of the night that traditionally recieve the least.
1. Chapter I Last Sight

**A/N: Hello! Silver Phoenix 117 here, and finally, my first story is ready to be uploaded! I appreciate reviews, and, as all we authors say, 'All you have to do is push that pretty little blue button at the bottom of the page!' It takes 5 seconds minimum, and it can help so much to improve a story. Hope you enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' characters, nor do I own her vampiric world. All characters that have not been mentioned in her books are mine, and if you wish to use them, please ask for my permission, and I'm pretty sure that I'll gladly give it. Hey, if you like them that much, it must mean that they're good, and that makes me happy! --

_**New York City, August 17th**_

Pain… what an interesting sensation. To her, it felt better than sorrow… or grief. The blade sliced through her pale skin, leaving a fine trail of blood in its wake. She narrowed her eyes at the blooming crimson on her wrist. Yes… that coppery feeling, a feeling of power. She wielded that power over herself.

"And what good is that going to do you this night?" A female voice broke through the silence surrounding the small group of kids in the empty apartment. The city lived on outside of the rotting walls of the old building, but inside… it was their own world, their world. Her dark blue eyes rose to meet fiery green ones.

"Leave her alone Whitney. She should have the right to cut herself if she wants." This voice was male. It belonged to a boy, of about eighteen years of age; his light blue eyes went perfectly with shaggy, sun-bleached blond hair. His skin was tan, perfect without blemishes, other than numerous scars that criss-crossed over his bare chest. His blue-jeans were torn and baggy, but the look suited his rugged appearance.

"If she gets blood poisoning then, don't come to me asking for help." This girl looked like a fifteen year-old, but her matronly eyes declared her as the boss in this place. Her snapping green eyes went with her blazing red hair with unchallenged harmony; she would never be able to betray her Irish heritage with those looks.

"The blade's new. She cleaned it in alcohol too."

"Where the hell did she get straight alcohol from?" Whitney nodded over to the empty plastic container lying near the open fist of a seventeen year-old boy with dark hair; he was apparently unconscious. A girl of sixteen lay on his muscular chest, clad in a black sweatshirt; salty tears ran down her eyes, as her fingertips traced his jaw line.

"Grocery store; how the hell should I know? I just know that Cameron's knocked himself out with the rest of it, and Lily's trying to wake him up with her tears, even though she knows that he loves booze more than her."

"Lily…," Whitney let her gaze trail to the duo, leaving the dark blue-eyed beauty at peace. The boy looked at her, letting his friend move to go and persuade the other girl to leave the unconscious male to his drunken dreams.

"Phoenix, you're bleeding. Let me get that cut cleaned up." Her nearly midnight eyes lowered black to the blood that was slowly dripping down to her hand.

"You do not need to worry. I shall be fine." Her voice was soft, comforting, nearly, in the harsh environment of the lower parts of New York City. His hand trailed to her pale cheek, brushing aside tendrils of rich, dark chocolate hair.

"I can't help but worry about you. You've scared me since Evan—." Her eyes now aflame shut his mouth for him.

"Do not speak of him."

"Phoenix… just because—." She dropped the blade from her hand and let her pale fingers ensnare his throat. He reached up to take her wrist in his hands and nodded gently. "Alright," he said as she released him. "Just don't hurt yourself too badly… please?"

A small trace of a smile warmed her full, ruby lips. "I won't, Darren…. Be at peace." He opened his arms for her, leaning back against the wall. She moved over from her perch on a wooden crate and slid onto his lap and into his warm embrace. Darren smiled softly into her dark mane and gently pulled her around so that she lay against his chest. He tilted her head up to his, her eyes glassy with fatigue.

He gently kissed her cheek, snuggling her against his body. "Sleep Phoenix; rest." She slowly let her eyes drift shut, the razor blade forgotten, the forming scar lost to dreams. If morning came for her, than she would think about it then, but another day was never guaranteed in the life that they led.

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Flame… the word slipped into her dreams, slowly bringing her to reality. Smoke, was her next thought. Her eyes snapped open and met the blaze with even more ferocity. She was still his in his arms, his hand splayed on her hip, his hair mingling with hers. She shoved out of his arms and tried to shake him awake, all the while aware that flames were licking the room around her.

"Darren, Darren!" She didn't have enough strength… either that, or Darren was already unconscious in the hazy smoke surrounding them. It was getting hot… unbearably hot. She shook harder. "Darren!" she cried desperately now. She couldn't lose him too. He was the only one who understood… the only one. The others knew what had happened… but not entirely so. Darren had been there with her. He knew.

He wasn't waking. She would never be able to get him out of there. She wasn't strong enough to bear his weight. She could hardly bear her own at this point. She was coughing in the smoke, flames burning ever nearer. She stood anyways, forgetting what Whitney had told her about fires in the city. Grabbing Darren's limp arms she pulled with all of her might, amounting to nothing.

She dropped to the floor where the air was slightly less smoke-filled. The others were gone. She knew not where. Cameron had probably woken from after drinking the alcohol that she'd stolen from the store a few blocks away; he would have wanted more, of course, and he'd have tugged Whitney and Lily after him.

"Darren!" she shrieked, now waking entirely, forgetting about everything but him and the fire surrounding them. Her thoughts raced as she pulled him away from the wall that would soon be demolished by the burning crimson fire. Window… they were on the second story of the building. They could make it through the fall, she was sure of it. She was most concerned about Darren though. He wasn't waking up.

The smoke was drowning her now, as well as the flames. She managed to drag him over to the window, where she could make out the street below. There were sirens blaring in the distance, but the roar of the flames kept her from determining their distance.

The room was a blur now… she could hardly make out the window. Jammed… the memory came to her….

_"Damn it is fucking hot in here!" Evan smiled as Cameron complained, glaring at the window. He held her in his arms, her legs between his as she tilted her head back against his chest to look up into those gorgeous brown eyes. He planted a soft kiss on her nose, making her laugh and smile._

_"Open the window then," Evan said, turning her around in his arms so that he could kiss her properly now. His hands found their way above her hips and slid underneath her black tank top, making her shiver has his tongue delved into her mouth, claiming her as his._

_She distantly heard Cameron struggle with the window. The door opened and the sound of dropping grocery bags whispered by her ear above Evan's voice as he kissed her neck and licked her collarbone, again making her laugh._

_"The window's jammed, Cam." That would be Whitney's voice… she mused, struggling to keep herself from shaking as Evan found her bra snap. "Would you two get a room before I barf?" she asked impatiently. She could imagine Whitney standing with her hands on her hips, cross and irritable._

_"Sounds like someone's a little PMS-tic, wouldn't you say, Phoenix?" Evan smiled as he lifted his head and stopped kissing her. Cameron and Whitney couldn't see what he was doing underneath her shirt though. She buried her head in Evan's shoulder as his hands played with her breasts, making her shiver under his touch._

_"I am not PMS-tic, as you so poetically put it! C'mon Cameron, before I'm sick. We can sneak into some ass's pool if you're that hot."_

_The two others left the room that all six of them shared for the time being. She managed to tilt her head up to look at Evan. He smiled and nuzzled her cheek with his like a lovesick puppy. "Well…now that we're alone…."_

Jammed, the window was jammed. She frantically looked for anything that would break the glass. The fire was screaming with her mind now, disorienting her with its deadly song. She was growing so tired… weak. She could hardly stand, and yet she knew that she had to get out of there with Darren.

A sharp, cracking sound above her head banished the memory and all thoughts of escaping. She looked up to see the beams of the ceiling caving in, snapping in half under the pressure of the fire. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion now. The beam split and fell as flames spattered across the room, embers landing on her skin and burning without the sensation. It hit her back, thrusting her away from the window and all chances of escape. Embers that were scorching the floor sprang up as if alive, spraying into her unprotected eyes when the beam clattered to the floor. The pain was there, but she couldn't feel it directly. She felt as if she were out of her body, looking over in spirit-form as she relived her death.

Sirens jolted her back into her body as swiftly as the beam that was now burning into the floor and her back had fallen. The pain was gone… she couldn't see anything that was more than a foot from her face, searing her delicate skin. It was all a haze of crimson fire that was encasing her in deathly warmth, except…. now she saw a shadow of black. It looked like another person was there… but her mind was leaving, beaten back by the smoke.

The beam was thrust away, but she didn't feel the relief of pressure. Arms wrapped around her as she was lifted from the ground, but she couldn't sense the touch. Eyes looked down into hers as her own drifted slowly shut, but all she saw was black before her blurred vision until everything became nothing, and she slipped into blissful unconsciousness.


	2. Chapter II Voices

**A/N: I changed the type of POV for this chapter, and I don't know if it works better than third-person point of view or not. Reviews with comments are _greatly_ appreciated, and if you want me to change it back to he/she, I will certainly do so if I get enough reviews that say 3rd person is better. Responses to reviews are at the bottom, near that '_pretty_ little blue button' that I still encourage you to push. --**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' characters, nor do I own her vampiric world. All characters that have not been mentioned in her books are mine, and if you wish to use them, please ask for my permission, and I'm pretty sure that I'll gladly give it. Hey, if you like them that much, it must mean that they're good, and that makes me happy! --

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_Upstate New York_

"She's so… _little_. How are you going to sell such a little girl?" This voice is unlike any voice that I've ever heard before. There is no human emotion in it... just…. I cannot describe it. I'm waking from a dream it feels like… and there is something about the dream that I need to remember. I _must_ remember.

"You are awake?" This is a different voice, male, like the other, but younger… more child-like, and yet not so. I discover that I am lying in a warm bed, underneath a pile of soft sheets, as a weight sits next to me on the mattress. A warm hand brushes away strands of hair that cover my neck.

The first voice speaks again. "She is pretty though. You might get a good price on her… look at that neck. Hell… I might even buy her… if I can get some cash."

"That is the difference between you and the rest of us. You are the only vampire that I know of that has a shortage of funding. Why not just quit doling out your money like a rich king and actually save it so that you can get something that you want?" I like the second voice more than I do the first. His voice, this male that is sitting next to me, as his voice is nearer than the other's, is softer, more subdued than the harsher voice that is farther away from me.

I have yet to open my eyes. They feel almost sealed shut, and I don't know why.

"And you tell me that she was in a fire? I don't see any burn scars at all… amazing… that she escaped unscathed like that."

"She did not escape."

"Oh right." The other voice takes on a sarcastic tone. "The great Kaelyn went into those flames and rescued the helpless human child." Alright, now that bugs me. I think I'm going to open my eyes and give this guy a piece of my mind.

"I am not a child," I say, punching myself mentally for whispering. Who knew that it could take such an effort to speak? I struggle to sit up amongst the pile of pillows behind me. The person that is sitting next to me wraps an arm behind my back and helps me to sit up, leaning my body against his. I shiver in the cool air outside of the bed and shift closer to his warmth.

"So she isn't a mute, pity." I don't like this other's voice. I'm fighting to open my eyes that are putting up a pretty difficult battle. I reach up with one of my hands and rub at my left eye. Ok… not a good idea. That hurt like hell. It feels as though a fire is in my eye, and damn, that really hurt. My eye is watering now, and I think that I can open it. A crack of grayish light peeks through my lashes. Since I can see something I rub my right eye, wincing at the pain, but rewarded with a twin crack of light as I try and open my eyes more.

"Gavin, I think it would be best for you to take your leave." I feel a presence leave, but I can't explain how I know that the room that I am in is empty, save for me and this person beside me. That arm is still supporting me, and, I hate to admit it, I don't think that I'd be able to sit up without it.

"I take it that your eyes hurt the most?" The voice that I like has turned to me. I nod softly, wincing as I try to open my eyes further. A warm hand brushes my cheek and passes over the lids of each of my eyes. "You managed to escape without scars from the fire… but I'm afraid your eyes were burned when you fell."

_Why can I not remember any of what he speaks? Is he kidding me?_ The voice laughs softly.

"You are not being fooled. Your memory might be a little foggy for a while. Let it come back as it comes; don't tax yourself." He pauses, bushing my cheekbone with his thumb. Something about his touch makes me shiver slightly, but I cannot determine what is putting me off about him. He seems normal enough, but, then again, I can't even see him in the shadows in front of my eyes. "So innocent…." His voice fades to a whisper for a moment and then regains its authority. "I'm going to let you rest for two days. Your meals will be brought to you by one of mine; her name is Sonia."

"She is wise?" I ask; my voice is still as soft as the wind in a forest. He laughs again.

"She could be called that. You know the meaning of Russian names?"

"I know some meanings." Speaking is tiring me out, and I find that it's becoming harder to continue sitting up, keep my eyes open, and continue our very short conversation.

"You surprise me there, little beauty." His voice is growing quieter, and I feel dreams singing me to sleep. His arms lay me back against the pillows of the bed. "Rest… someone will be here when you wake again." My eyes drift shut, not that they had far to go, and I dream of gray rainbows and flaming phoenixes that try to bring me home.

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**Review Responses:**

_lovenotknown: _Yes, you did press the lil' blue thingy (Go you!), and congrats to you, my first reviewer! This chap.'s in your honor. I'm so glad that you like my story! I hope you liked this chapter-- I was a little unsure about changing the POV, but it was a hard to do third person without displaying the blindness well enough. I went onto your profile page, and it looks like you're big into Harry Potter. Have you read the sixth book yet? OMG, it's so good! I finished within 12 hours!

_Kalista Turner:_ Glad you like DP. Give me your opinion on the POV change next time you review!

_Between2Worlds:_ Evan shall be explained! I haven't read the Tithe book, but I'll definitely be sure to check it out. Thanks!

_jega:_ Thanks for the sp comment. I do pride myself in my grammatical skills, seeing as I had two years of school with the greatest English teacher in the world, a.k.a.: The Grammar Nazi, The Grammar King, and The Cat Killar. Hope you liked this chapter!

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**Note to Readers: I've just recently posted a new story called Winter Ice and Summer Fire on Check out my profile to get to the link. WISF is under Beyblade, but that's just 'cause I'm using a couple of her characters. It's about WWIII, and I think that if you like this story, you might like my other one.

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	3. Chapter III Blind

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A/N: This chapter took me a while to finish, seeing as how my computer was stolen from me for three days, and I was having trouble with how I want to introduce Phoenix to the vampires' world. Sigh… well, I guess I just hope that I continue to please you all! Review, review, review, I still encourage you, since this story comes as you review, unlike my other story (Please check it out!). Any ideas that you have are welcome, just incase inspiration has graced you more than it has me this week. **

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' characters, nor do I own her vampiric world. All characters that have not been mentioned in her books are mine, and if you wish to use them, please ask for my permission, and I'm pretty sure that I'll gladly give it. Hey, if you like them that much, it must mean that they're good, and that makes me happy!

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_**Upstate New York**_

_Two figures stood before her. The one nearest to her was familiar, one who she knew better than her own reflection, which she had not seen in the longest time. Cameron had shattered it… for some reason. She did not know why._

_The other figure was dark, as if he was the essence of the night. She could barely make out his features, but she could tell that he was beautiful. Long, black hair shadowed dark, fathomless eyes that scared her, took her into his soul and held her motionless. She couldn't speak; she couldn't move, and it was all because of those eyes. If only…._

_"What are you?" Evan asked. She tried to tell him to be quiet; she feared for him, although she did not know why. She just… had a feeling. The other smiled, revealing perfect white teeth; she noticed that his canines were unnaturally long, as if he were a creature of her dreams, and yet she knew that she could never imagine or dream a creature so beautiful and strangely unreachable._

Yes, what am I?_ She knew that Evan had heard him too, had heard that rich, flawless tenor voice that wound around her being like liquid honey, soft, warm, and enticing. Her thoughts hung suspended in time… unmoving, unspeaking. He held her with his gaze, frozen in space, immobile._

_She felt a presence rush up behind her, and this was as familiar as the first. Heaving breaths, she knew that he had run to find them. She felt a hand at her wrist, and she was suddenly free. The shock of gravity pulled at her knees, and she collapsed next to the third male, who bent and helped her stand, leaning her against him._

_Evan's gaze flickered back towards them, but he knew that Darren wasn't betraying him. She knew it too, steadying herself against his body as she regained control of her own._

_The creature in front of them blinked slowly, as if it were unnatural for him to do so. She shuddered against Darren, as the dark one's gaze settled on hers and took her eyes again._

_"Which one should I kill first… dark firebird?"_

She awoke, gasping, struggling for breath. It was as if she could feel that creature's icy fingers encircling her neck before she even dreamed it. She jolted up out of her sleeping position and shuddered in the cool air around her. She knew that she was alone… wherever she was. No cold auras brushed against her being, and she felt no presence beside her.

Her breathing slowly returned to normal, or as close as it would get to normal after that sort of confusing dream. Why did she feel as though these dreams were as familiar as her memories, but she couldn't remember them happening to her, other than in her dreams? She became consciously aware of the fact that she saw nothing in front of her eyes, only a blank nothingness that was cloudy and gray. She could trace darker shadows against lighter ones, but they were all so blurry, she couldn't distinguish what exactly they were.

She brought her hands to her face, touching her nose to make sure that they were there. She waved her left hand in front of her eyes. She couldn't see it. She blinked. Nothing happened. _What on Earth is going on? Why can't I see anything? What happened?_

A million questions thundered through her thoughts, but they came so fast, and she had answers to none of them… only that she couldn't see, and she was alone. Determined, suddenly, for a reason unknown to her, she shoved the heavy sheets off of her body.

The cool air enveloped her bare legs like a cloak, making her shiver. She ran her hands down her torso, fingering soft cloth and tiny seams. She discovered that she was wearing a light shift-like dress, probably a nightgown of sorts. Colors… she scoffed mentally. Light gray, dark gray, or perhaps was it silver gray? So many different shades to choose from of one single color… she couldn't help but laugh slightly at the stupidity of it all.

She didn't feel any pain when she moved in the bed; only her eyes had pained her, and now they only felt blissful nothing… as if they were just… there, unfeeling. She felt her hair spill over her shoulder, tangled from the restless dream. Pushing it away from her face, even though it wasn't necessary, she put her hands in front of her and felt for the edge of the mattress.

It seemed like an endless ocean of down to her, but in reality, she knew that it couldn't be bigger than a king-sized mattress. She finally found the plush, rounded edge of the sheets and swung her legs forward in front of her. Gently sliding down, she found the floor, which was soft cloud underneath her bare feet. Carpet… she smirked as she distinguished it as darker than that brighter gray over a few paces in front of her.

She stood slowly, keeping her hands on the bed behind her for balance, as she tried to adapt to the feeling of standing without sight. Tentatively, she took a step forward, slowly placing her foot down and pulling away from the sureness of having a mattress behind her, solid and inviting. She knew she could turn around and go back, but…. She took another step, slowly gaining confidence.

She held her arms out in front of her, walking quietly towards the lighter gray that she predicted correctly to be a window. When she finally made it, it seemed as if hours had passed from her journey from the bed to the window. Placing her fingertips on the glass, she felt sunlight penetrating the glass, slowly warming her cold hands.

She leaned her forehead against the window and drifted into an imaginary world.

There would be a courtyard in front of her, down below through the window. There would be flowering plants, trees… and in the center of it all, a small pond with a fountain of a flying dragon and a faerie in its middle. There would be a stone bench at the edge of the pond, carved with intricate details of winged creatures from myths and fairytales. In the corner, a large, weeping willow, its leaves swinging and brushing the ground like tears falling from an earthy soul. It would all be lush and blooming… like Eden. She'd always wanted to know what the Garden of Eternity was like, and this was as close as she could get.

Something brought her out of her imaginings, pulling her away. She shook her head to herself, telling that wishful part of her that it was only that… wishes; dreams that would never come true. _It's probably all dead anyways,_ she told herself.

A knock on a door brought her out of her scolding. She habitually turned her head towards the sound, but she couldn't be sure of where the door was. She kept her fingers on the glass of the windowpane, just to keep her surroundings stable. A second knock made her think that perhaps it was the door to her room that was being knocked upon.

"Hello?" she asked. Her voice sounded oddly small, as if it normally held a commanding, yet kind, tone. She heard a door open, and know she knew that it must be hers, for the noise was too close for it not to be.

"Oh, my- you're awake… and out of bed." This voice was female, soft and loving… like a mother's. She heard a rustle of long skirts and narrowed her eyes, straining to listen to the quiet noises that this person made.

A hand on her shoulder made her jump. It was warm, soft, but yet she could feel the strength within those fingers that wrapped around her bare shoulder. "You're looking much better than you did when Kaelyn brought you in three days ago… you're color has returned slightly. Are you hungry? I brought some toast and juice, just incase your stomach wasn't quite up to having an entire buffet brought to your room."

She smiled softly. The sharp pains of huger were finally apparent to her. _Why haven't I felt them before now?_ The hand on her shoulder and took her own hand, making her feel small, like a child. This woman led her across the floor, turning her and sitting her in some type of wooden chair.

"Here," the lady said; a piece of toast was put in her hand, a glass in the other. She took a sip from the glass, wondering why apple juice had never tasted so… flavorful before now. Wondering, she took a bite from the toast and reveled in the same, ultra-sensitive taste heightening. She heard the rustle of skirts again, and felt slight movement of the air around her. She assumed that this lady had seated herself in another chair as well.

"Lord Kaelyn told me that your eyes were troubling you. He said that the fire had burned them. Do they pain you?" She shook her head, quickly finishing the bite of toast that she had just taken.

"Fire?" She heard a, not deep, but apparent intake of breath at her inquiry.

"You do not remember?" She pushed at her thoughts, trying to recall a fire like one that this woman spoke of.

"I don't think so…. All I can remember is two male voices when I woke up before…. They mentioned a fire too. Was I in a fire?" She took another bite of toast when she was finished speaking.

"My master found you in burning apartment building in New York City three days ago. He brought you here. Dear child, do you know where you are?" A sigh whispered to her ears. This lady knew that she didn't know anything about this place. "This house belongs to Lord Kaelyn. He is a vampire."

She choked on her juice that she happened to be sipping right then. Coughing, she gripped the glass with stiff fingers, fearing that if she didn't clench it in her grasp, it would shatter. "Vampire? Am I dreaming? You're just talking about some codename, aren't you? There's no such thing as blood-drinkers… the walking dead…."

Somehow the other woman's silence told her that the creatures of the night were not just the dark people eloquently described in fictional works. Well… the rest of the world thought they were fictional.

"So… they are real?" The dream… that dream from last night… she knew what that other person was now, the cold one that had held her in his hands.

"They are. You somehow don't seem frightened." She smiled a little at that comment. No… she wasn't frightened. Actually, she thought that she might be a little bit curious. There was still that soft voice in the back of her head telling her that this was all a dream… all of it, but she pushed it aside. She wanted to know what they were like. There was an instinct telling her that she should know everything about them, for it seemed to connect with a tragedy… that memory that she couldn't grasp.

"My name is Sonia," the woman spoke quietly. "I'm a slave to Lord Kaelyn."

_Slave._ The word sounded sticky sweet, like molasses, both bitter and sugary.

"Slave, is that why you called him your 'master'?" The question came tumbling out. She could almost see the smile on Sonia's face, but she had to imagine everything for herself. She had no idea as to what this woman looked like. Would she mind if she touched her face to figure out what she looked like? She kept her small hands in her lap, refusing to ask.

"He is my master. There are more parts to the vampiric world than one might think. There are lawless vampires, who live alone and do whatever they please. There are also the free vampires, similar to the lawless ones, but they have basic rules, customs that they follow. Their world is based in a city called New Mayhem in New York.

"But the world that you and I are in right now… it is called Midnight. Well, actually, the original Midnight has been destroyed by Jaguar, the most significant vampire in this branch of the vampiric world. The theories of Midnight live on though." The woman paused, as if to gather her thoughts.

"To the vampires of Midnight, humans are nothing more than cattle to be bought and sold as livestock. Humans taken or born into Midnight are slaves to them and their every whim. They can do whatever they want with their slaves… work them, beat them, rape them, kill them. You have no rights as a slave of a vampire. They, and only they, are your world."

"Can a human ever get out of Midnight?" A laugh reached her ears; it was hallow and chilling.

"Only if the human is exceedingly brave, or stupid, enough to escape- on rare occasion, a vampire will make them freeblood. Then they can do whatever they would normally do, if they can even remember what it's like to be free. Most slaves are broken…."

"Broken?" A shudder made the room seem suddenly much cooler.

"Broken to their master's will, like a horse. After that… well they're about the same as an enchanted corpse, doing whatever their master bids them. But not all slaves are broken. If they're smart enough, they'll do what they're told, and there would be no need, but it's never certain. Trainers, the vampires whose jobs it is to break slaves, tend to break them all anyways, but sometimes…."

"You aren't broken, are you?" She somehow knew this. She could imagine what a broken human would be like. Images… memories of soulless humans, but no vampires in sight. _The streets of New York…._

"No, I am not. I was born into Midnight, which is becoming rare, since the original Midnight is gone. I've been fortunate enough to have kinder than usual masters and a head on my shoulders. About ten years ago, my old master was killed by a hunter. I was given to Kaelyn, and I've remained here, with him, since. He's one of the better ones…, but I don't think that he saved you from that fire to keep you as his own." A strange sadness laced the older woman's voice, but she couldn't understand it. It was as if the woman was crying, but she didn't sense salty tears.

"Child, I pray that you have the sense in you to play your cards right." She again heard the rustle of skirts, and she knew that the woman was making her exit. She couldn't remember when it had happened, but the glass of juice that she had held had somehow been taken from her.

A soft hand brushed her cheek for a moment, and a pair of strong, yet giving, lips pressed themselves to her forehead. "Good luck, little phoenix. May your fire never be extinguished."

_Phoenix…._ It sounded familiar to her, as if it were once her name.

Failing to capture the memory, she suddenly realized that she was alone. She stood, balancing herself by holding the back of the chair that she had been sitting in. Tracing back her steps, she slowly made her way towards the bed, reaching out in front of her. The shadows around her seemed to have darkened slightly. Perhaps night was falling….

She found herself exhausted once she reached the bed. Her mind was full of questions that needed answering, but she was alone and she couldn't answer them for herself. Crawling into the soft sheets, she laid her head down and held a pillow in her arms, slowly drifting into a dream-filled sleep that beckoned and tempted her.

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**A/N: Just incase everyone's totally confused, Phoenix is having some... memory problems. They'll clear up, and things will start to make sense for once, but I need some more ideas, so I'm off to go to the Holy Temple of Inspiration to ask Turnip for some godly influence.**

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**Review Responses:**

_Between2Worlds:_ So glad you liked Ch. II- I'm working on the Tithe book… seeing as how my library is dumb and only has one copy, I have to wait a while before I can check it out. Have you read the Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice? I'm trying to find copies of those too. This chapter gave me some trouble, so I hope it continues to meet your standards.

_Narina Nightfall:_ Well... it just so happens that Phoenix is very beautiful, but her future master's plans… well, even _I_ don't know why he's going to buy her, but it's not only for her beauty. --raises fist into the air-- I AS THE WRITER OF THIS STORY FORBID MY MALE VAMPIRE TO BE SIMILAR TO THE TYPICAL MALE HUMAN! He will have a mind for things other than sex, food, and football (Not that he doesn't think about those things too… )! Thanks for the 'potential' compliment! I hope you liked Ch. III.

_Missy:_ Thanks for the review. Yeah, I agree with you. _Narina Nightfall_, what's the name of that story? (Just incase some typical American idiot --sings song and then wonders what she was talking about before-- gets the brilliant idea to sue me, I HAVE NEVER READ IT, AND IF THEY'VE GOT SIMILAR PLOT LINES IT'S TOTALLY COIENCIDENTAL!

_Lady Sonora of the Black Rose:_ Interesting name… I challenge you to think up something other than "hmm" for a review. I have no idea whether you like the story or not!

_lovenotknown:_ I DETEST sunburns. Sometimes I think the sun has some sort of grudge against me. It burns my skin, kills my eyes, and makes me all icky and gross when it's hot out. thinking Maybe I'm part vampire… though I can't imagine my parent's being vampires. o.O Weird thought there…. Anyways, I hope your sunburns (I assume you got burned, seeing as you were fried to a crisp.) get better soon and that you don't get skin cancer! (So positive… ) I'm glad you liked the POV change. I think I might do that again in the future as necessary, but I need to introduce one other major character first…. --smiles-- I can't wait! Yeah… I figured that saying "HEY ALL SHE'S BLIND!" would sort of defeat the purpose of me struggling through two years of classes under the influence of H2G2 and under the guidance of the most amazing English teacher in the world. ALL HAIL MR. CARR! AND MARVIN! (i.e. The Paranoid Android from H2G2.) Give your dog a hug for me. I don't like thunderstorms either.

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**Note to Readers: Meh. I'm a little disappointed that my other story isn't getting as many reviews as this one. I don't know if that's because this one's better or not, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, I implore you, check it out! And if you hate it you can tell me so! I give you permission!

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	4. Chapter IV Lost

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A/N: This chapter is short, but it's very important to the shaping of Phoenix. I had to type this one up quickly, but here it is. I'm sorry for the delay in updating: my internet was down for about three days after I got back from vacation. Enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' characters, nor do I own her vampiric world. All characters that have not been mentioned in her books are mine, and if you wish to use them, please ask for my permission, and I'm pretty sure that I'll gladly give it. Hey, if you like them that much, it must mean that they're good, and that makes me happy! –

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_**Upstate New York**_

_He had tried to make her run away, tried to get her to leave. But she had refused, standing by the one she knew and loved, even as the last tendrils of humanity were ruthlessly stolen from him._

_"Your friend is right you know; this boy isn't going to recognize you when he slips into consciousness, firebird." She narrowed her dark sapphire eyes at this being in front of her. Darren protectively stood before her and Evan, the latter boy unconscious, pale in her arms. Tears streamed down her cheeks as she held him to herself, cradling his limp head in her hands, running her fingers through his unruly dark hair._

_"What have you done to him?" Darren shouted, obviously unaware of the deadly silence in the alleyway. The creature before them smiled, showing those white fangs again, but this time, his lips and the fangs were stained with warm blood. The blood of a human. The blood of the human that lay in her arms._

_"I've drunk him nearly dry. He'll die soon," the man said; she loathed the laughter that laced into his voice, teasing them with a careless sort of superiority. She slowly released her desperate clutch on Evan, leaning him against the brick of the building that shadowed them even more than the weak night light of New York could._

_"You bastard," she whispered, standing shakily as if some other being possessed her body, making her feel powerful enough to defeat this supernatural creature before her. She stalked up to the pale-faced man, glaring at the smug gleam in his endless jet eyes. Even though she knew that she could die at any second if this being wanted her dead, she stood before him, glaring with more fire than most humans could ever muster up in the face of certain death._

_She slapped him with such force that his head actually snapped to the side, leaving a pale outline of her fingertips on his flesh. Before she could think, a steely grip encircled the wrist of the hand that had struck him, and she found herself wrapped around the man's body, his rock-hard abdomen stony against her bared stomach, his chest still against hers._

_No heartbeat. He had no heartbeat._

_The realization stuck her with such force that she actually found herself reeling away from him, but his arm had somehow snuck around her waist, holding her still against him as she struggled. His lips brushed her neck, just above her collarbone where the skin was softer than velvet. "So soft…," he whispered, and he sank his fangs into her throat._

She jolted awake out of the dream, breathing heavily, instantly letting her hand fly to her throat to make sure that it was only a dream. _Only a dream,_ she tried to reassure herself, fingering the smooth skin. There was no blood. She shuddered as the sensation of having her blood drawn lingered in her mind, lulling her to a sweet tune made from the ebbing of waters on a shore, drifting into nothing but pleasured peace, a blank nothing before her eyes.

That was when she truly woke from her dream. She saw nothing, so there was no difference. It had only been a dream.

A cool hand on her shoulder made her jump, taking a jerky intake of breath that made her heart race. A soft chuckle reached her ears as fingers brushed her hair off of her shoulder. Scared out of her mind, she shoved the hand away from her shoulder and pushed herself away from the body that she could feel next to hers.

She was vaguely aware of the fact that the mattress of the bed seemed to disappear from underneath her hand. Bracing herself for an impact with the floor, she squeezed her eyes shut, wondering at the point. She guessed it was just habitual to do that.

She had forgotten her fall for a moment there, but now she realized that the impact had never occurred. The same warm hands that she had felt before were wrapped around her shoulders. She wondered what she looked like, her torso hanging in midair as her legs remained on the bed. Tilting her head up towards where she assumed her rescuer's face was, she blinked. She could faintly see the outline of a humanoid shadow above her.

"You'll hurt yourself if you keep jerking away whenever someone touches you like that," a male voice said. She instantly recognized it as the voice that she liked from before. The arms around her slowly lifted her upwards so that she could find an easy place on the mattress. Tucking her legs underneath herself, she pushed her hair away from her face, although it didn't help her see at all.

"Well it would help if I could actually tell when someone's directly in front of me. I think I'm going to die at the age of twenty if this sort of thing keeps up. You nearly gave me a heart attack." She could almost feel his smile.

"Being blind shouldn't hinder your ability to tell if someone is near you." She rolled her eyes; it was as if she were back in a foster home from her early childhood before she'd run away from Social Services.

"Oh, shut up. I can't help it if I can't see."

"Your other senses will become more attuned in a while. You were only in that fire four days ago." She was silenced for a moment, trying to remember.

Suddenly it dawned on her. Hysterically she reached out in front of her, grabbing the collar of the man's shirt. It was a miracle that she actually managed to find him. Perhaps it was just instinct. Shaking him, resulting in not a budge, her voice raised an octave. "Darren! What happened to him? He was there, wasn't he? You got him out too, didn't you?"

_Stop screaming._

The command hit her like a ton of bricks, silencing her immediately. Hands disentangled hers from his collar, setting her back on the bed with a force that was gentle, but they left no room for argument.

"The boy was too close to death for me to save him. You weren't far behind him. If you'd stayed in that fire a moment longer, you would have died."

The words had a chilling effect on her. Tears didn't come to her eyes, but she felt cold, alone, even thought there was obviously someone in front of her. Everything seemed to vanish from her mind as she succumbed to a distant silence. Her mind seemed to drift away into the skies of New York that she'd once known better than the back of her own hand.

She didn't hear the words that he said. She didn't feel his arms taking her body against his, lifting her and taking her to another place that was infinitely colder than the room where she had been. She didn't notice the presence of the other humans in the cell, crying softly to themselves, or even losing themselves as she did.

_The boy was too close to death for me to save him….

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**Review Responses:**

_Between2Worlds: _I've finished Interview With the Vampire, and I've gotten about ¼ through The Vampire Lestat. I LOVE THESE BOOKS! They're amazing. I'm kind of sad that Louis is all… depressed sort of "I don't care about anything anymore" at the end of the story. Claudia scared the willies out of me. I liked Armand alright, and I don't think I've met David yet, unless I'm totally forgetting something. I like Lestat though. His book really shows you what could be going on in his mind. Glad you liked chapter three.

_Kalista Turner: _Puzzle! . Did you ever read the Narnia books, the little donkey, Puzzle? It might take a while for things to make sense, but I'm so glad that you continue to read my story. There's only so much I can throw at her in one chapter.

_Madam Jinx:_ I love your username! Glad you like the story thus far.

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	5. Chapter V Memories

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A/N: Finally… Chapter V is done and complete. 1500 words, three weeks… how pathetic. Well, to give you all the low down on why I've taken so long, I've started school at the Academy. And running on five hours of sleep every night isn't good for anyone's health, especially mine. I've read two books since the beginning of September, again, very pathetic. I miss having afternoons to myself, and with sports every afternoon and Saturday morning classes, I'm about to fall over and just succumb to _'Ecl_. Anyone who hasn't picked up Falcondance by the way, you're missing out on a great book. If you have any questions regarding my story, or if you just want to talk AAR, email me at Thanks so much for the positive reviews! Really, it's what keeps this story going.

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**_**San Francisco, California**_

Slumped against a cold cement wall, she slipped away from her world, lost to its joys, its losses. She was alone, but it didn't bother her. She was frozen, but she could not feel the pain. She was lost, and she did not want to find her way home.

Thoughts trickled through her mind like water over smooth, worn rock, the stone so used to the barrage of chilling liquid that it had worn down like solid wind, ignoring the stream running over its surface.

She had sensed the others around her for a moment when she had slipped back into the world, but the hours had slowly ticked away, and she was lost to them now. She was in a corner, her legs folded underneath her hips, failing even in that position to keep her warm. Her hands lay limp in her lap, fingers entwining into the fabric of the nightdress that she still wore, swirling around her knees like air. The thin straps were loose on her shoulders, letting the neckline dip low against her skin.

A warm hand on her shoulder caused her to look up, but see nothing. Only gray shadow met her open eyes. "How did you get here?" a soft, young feminine voice asked. She felt this girl lean up against the wall next to her, providing body heat in this cold place for them to share.

"Where is here?" she asked quietly, her voice as fragile as glass.

The hand moved down her arm and took her hand, lacing its fingers around hers. "You cannot see, can you? Have you always been blind? Here… here is where they have taken us. I myself am not sure as to what will happen. There are seven others."

So many questions, she closed her eyes and leaned back against the concrete, fighting an instinctive urge to push this girl away. She was like her light, a warm sun, in this cold place, even though the light was never seen. "No. My eyes were lost in fire, or so I'm told."

"Maybe it is better that way…," the girl said, leaning close enough for her long hair to flow over her shoulders, whispering against her skin like the wind through trees on a spring morning. She didn't understand this girl next to her. She didn't like it. Suddenly, as if the gift of warmth was a seduction into normality, she shoved at the body next to hers.

"Go away. Leave me alone." The girl cried out; she could feel the confusion, and yet all she wanted was to be left alone to herself, to not have to think about these things that this girl so wanted to talk about. "I am lost; do not try and bring me back."

Gone… finally, she was alone, in her own corner. She let her mind drift freely, away from this place, to a world where she had no idea as to what she desired or what she even remembered. Her eyes slowly drifted shut and focused on a spot that she could not see, just staring gray that was exactly the same as the shadows next to it. All the same, a world of uniform identity, of fascinating difference, she alone could see the difference, but she could not describe it. It just… drew her gaze to that particular place, and that place alone. She focused on that spot, and soon, the world took her entirely, into a dreamland with color and inane patterns that she could finally see, as if her eyes had been given back to her.

_Glowing eyes stared up at her as blood failed to continue to seep onto her hands. She held his body against hers, staring down into black pools of darkness that had once been vibrant blue. "What have you done to him?" she whispered, letting her eyes remain on Evan's still features, even though she knew that he was alive. Not breathing, not blinking, what had happened to him?_

I have made him one of my own. You should leave, before he kills you.

_"I will not leave him like this, you monster! Evan would never kill me!" She clung to the still form in her arms, tears streaming down her eyes as she refused to acknowledge that he really was lost to her, even though she knew that this creature told her the truth._

Drop him. Stand up._ The commands sunk into her very being, forcing her hands to draw away even as she cried out at the pain of resisting. Evan's form never touched the ground though; his arms had snapped back, supporting his torso as he slowly stood up to look down at her as she tried to pull away from her retreated position._

_"Evan?" she asked tentatively, wondering in horror why she was suddenly afraid to go to her companion that had shared so many nights with her on the streets in each other's arms._

He is no longer your Evan. I give you one last chance to flee before I let him go. If you do not, you shall die before the sun rises. Get out of here.

_This command did not force her to leave._

_Yet she found herself bolting down the ally as red eyes slid open and found hers._

The dream was more like a foggy reality. She couldn't tell if it was really happening to her or not. The soft breathing of the women near her softly brought her back into the real world, exactly where she didn't want to be. She shivered violently against the cement wall, fingering the gooseflesh that rose on her bare arms and legs.

She closed her eyelids, not seeing a difference in the gray vastness of nothing before here eyes. She wondered vaguely if they had fogged up, like she had seen in the city, where old women sat on street corners and begged for money. She tried to loser herself to dreams again, but she didn't want these confusing memories. Peace, that's all she asked for; that was all she had ever asked for, and yet she had always been denied that pleasure… for the most part. Before he'd been taken by that other… Evan had given her a glimpse of peace, tranquility. He'd shown her passion, wanting. He'd shown her a glimpse of life beyond just what she saw with her eyes.

But without him… she understood the irony behind it all. Without him, she was blind, figuratively, and now literally. What she hated to admit was that she wanted what was denied her. She wanted her sight back; she wanted him. She wanted to go back to before her dreams, before this unreal tragedy. She just couldn't understand that it was happening to her… now, here.

_"Live life as a dream, and they can't take you down. Live life as if you'll just wake up tomorrow morning, and you'll be safe, warm in your bed, faraway from this place that we're dreaming in; it's just a dream."_

She remembered the song, the listless melody that somehow had swept her off her feet, the first time that she had seen him, sitting there in the church pew, picking out the chords on his guitar with those lovely, graceful fingers. It had been raining… hard. Wet… dripping… she had been freezing, in a thin, worn sweater and pair of ratty, torn jeans that were soaked through, sticking to her skin like a second layer.

He had turned around, and she had lost the last of her feeling, succumbing to numbness, happy to just watch this glorious angel who was sitting in an empty church, rain crying outside in the streets. He had smiled at her, a boyish, sort of feral grin that weakened her knees that first time and forever after.

She smiled to herself as the memory faded, for once not in a dream. She could almost feel the tune of his song pulsing through her blood, and softly, ever so quietly, she hummed the melody, swaying slightly to the unsung words in her head.

_"As a dream, leave them behind, come with me, to a world where there's no thoughts and no rules and no tears; leave them behind, and take my hand as we fly, away from them all and this place where tears fall from the sky."_

Like always, she could almost sense his presence, but she knew that it wouldn't be so. Even now, with her eyes closed and useless, she would always see that last glimpse of him, eyes glowing red with hunger that she couldn't fathom.

She could feel tears coming. No. She pushed her eyelids with her fingers, refusing to let any tears fall. No. She would not cry for anyone. Not even Evan.

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**Review Responses:**

_Madam Jinx: _The dreams have really happened. I'm so glad you like the story thus far. This chapter took me positively forever to finish.

_Between 2 Worlds: _Ah… yeah. I still haven't finished Lestat. School is keeping me so insanely busy; it's unbelievable. Falcondance… have you finished it yet? My dad got it for me on my birthday.

_Lady Sonora the Black-Rose:_ Your comment has intrigued me. I guess you could consider her a poor girl, but… well, she's not going to be a self-centered little brat. I love being able to make characters the way you want. That's what's so great about writing.

_Risk-Draka:_ Glad you like it so much.

_Rabea Raven: _I hope that, by now, you've finished reading the rest of the story.

_Powerful Phoenix: _It took me a while to understand 'lord vampire.' And now I do. Really, he's not a very significant character, although I might have him come by later in the story. For now, he's gone. I can't really answer all of your questions, and I'm sure that deep inside, you really don't want me to reveal the entire story to you before it's finished. I hope you enjoyed Chapter V.

_shrum chick: _I started reading Amelia's stories about three years ago. I was just recently scanning her website, The Den of Shadows, and I stumbled across an excerpt from Black Flame. Authors can be so irritating sometimes… I wish she would publish it. But then again, who am I to talk?

_JadeandDragons:_ The dreams aren't meant to be _too_ confusing. A hint: try and put them all together as if they're one story. If you have any specific questions about them, feel free to email me.

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	6. Chapter VI Adara

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A/N: Wow. I've managed chapter six. I'm so sorry that it has taken so long. I hope I still have all of you guys checking for updates. If not, I definitely deserved this. The Academy is having exam week this week, so I'm kind've surprised that I've managed it this evening, but we had basketball practice cancelled today, which was nice, since I need to study for English. My Algebra exam was really easy this morning, but I have the flu, and I nearly threw up all over my test this morning. Oh well... On Friday afternoon, I get to go home for two weeks for Christmas, for which I can't wait. I'm going to sleep for 24 hours at once at the bare minimum. I'm so tired and exhausted. Anyways, to get to the bright side of things, I only have two more exams, English and French, and I think I'll be okay. I'll definitely update over Christmas again, since I'm bringing my computer home. Hope you all like chapter six! **

**Plus, I also changed chapter five around a bit, and added reviews, since they accidentally got deleted while I was on the Library computer. If you have the time, be sure to read it again. Also, some people seem to be confused on the dreams. If you have any questions, email me at Enjoy!**

Disclaimer: I do not own any of Amelia Atwater-Rhodes' characters, nor do I own her vampiric world. All characters that have not been mentioned in her books are mine, and if you wish to use them, please ask for my permission.**

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_**San Francisco**__**, California**_

_She was walking down a street. For some reason, she could actually see. People passing by her in the early twilight hardly spared her a glance, as if she were some shadow that slipped past their forms and just barely whispered in their ears. The moon was rising just slightly over the buildings of the small town. She didn't recognize it. The old buildings had simple black shutters, a thing that was unheard of in the part of New York that she'd lived in for most of her life. The wood houses, the clean, piney air. She could even smell it._

_She somehow felt at peace here, as if a presence were welcoming her home. It felt… familiar, well-known, and she couldn't comprehend why. She didn't remember or recognize anything, other than the night. She knew it so well. It was her playground. Playground… she could see the park next to the woods of the small city. It felt like a town though._

_Hardly thinking, she stepped onto the wood chips, letting her bare feet dig into the moist dampness where early dew had sunk into the cedar. Reaching out with a pale hand, she fingered the hard chain of the swing, marveling at the sheer iciness of something that was supposed to bring joy to a child's life. Steel… strong… cold… pain…. The words came to her mind, but she pushed them away and lost herself._

_Push, kick, push, kick… she was almost flying above her world, a world that she had always wanted to leave. She flew for as long as she was able, until her world summoned her back down onto its surface, swinging to a halt. Her toes brushed the hollow that little feet had dug over years of play. She stared out into the darkening peace of night, picking out the outline of the night sky above the tree-tops._

_A glint of black… a glint of black? This stuck her as unnatural. She felt that familiar presence, but this was not ominous, as she felt that it should feel. Familiar… even… loved, missed? Like a piece of her was waiting out there for her to take back and secure to her being. She watched it come closer, and, slowly, she was able to make out his form. Him._

_Sea-blue eyes, dark, raven hair… how her heart felt like breaking at the sight of him. He was walking closer, his perfect, lanky walk that she adored… oh, how she had missed him. Tears sprang to her eyes, but they didn't fall. He stood before her, the same, the only, but something was different about him. Something that wasn't… right._

_"You were gone." Same voice. Same perfect smile. Same beautiful eyes._

_She couldn't speak. He leaned closer, hands on the chains of the swing, pushing her back as he took a step, lifting her feet off of the ground._

_And then something shifted; his silhouette against the moonlight shifted into a different form, a different voice, and her entire world warped into a spin of color and nothing._

_"The last one?"_

_"Kaelyn's… he found her somewhere in a fire in New York City." A touch on her chin showed her the real world; it was all a dream._

_"Blind."_

_"You're point? Her beauty makes up for that. It can't be bad either… what she can't see, she can't know."_

Yeah right.

_She couldn't tell whether that was her own thought or one of the other's. For some reason, she was having trouble returning to consciousness… that presence from her dream was tugging at her, pulling her back into the void where she knew color once more, but another force, something entirely new was tugging her back into the gray land of nothing, a place where she didn't want to go._

Get out. She's mine now. Leave her to dream of things other than her past.

_With one final touch that felt like a farewell kiss, the dream left her, and his beautiful eyes were lost once more. She could no longer see him, her night-raven that she longed for._

Forget your turmoil. Sleep in peace.

_For the first time since he had left, one of her wishes was granted._

She woke feeling groggy… the feeling was vaguely familiar to that of feeling hung-over. Her head felt cloudy, and she wondered if that she had her sight, her vision would be blurred. Pushing herself up with her arms, she touched her forehead after crossing her legs, forgetting that all she wore was that nightdress. The hem swept to her knees, softly brushing the tender skin of her thighs. She fingered the soft material, listening for any sound at all as to tell her where she was.

Silence greeted her strains. Pure, utter silence… she couldn't even hear her own breath. She had no idea as to what was around her. The cement floor and walls were gone, the frightened auras of the women that she had been with earlier. At least… at least she was alone.

She uncrossed her legs, feeling the backs of her calves hit the edge of what felt like a mattress. A bed… a different bed from the one before, this one was…. She ran her fingertips over the comforter underneath her body, feeling the sensation of fine embroidery under her palms. She traced the outline of the shape, as if she were following an invisible thread in her world of grey. A point, rounded somewhat, twisting underneath another identical point, and a third… she traced what she assumed was a triquetra, a Celtic symbol of the holy trinity. The three points… she retraced the image again, picturing the symbol in her mind. The circle that centered on the central triangle of the knot… she remembered that it symbolized everlasting love.

She let her hand still, resting on the quilt-like fabric, meandering through her own mind for something, anything to think about. Odd…. No memories surfaced; no lyrics from love songs, or even the thoughts of the streets that she had wandered in when she had been stoned to the point of losing consciousness. No cravings for acid, no wanting to cut herself… every time before when she had let her mind think for itself, she'd ended up getting reprimanded by Darren or a sad look from Evan. Now… she didn't even want to do those things. Strange… she felt almost, normal, if she even knew what that felt like.

Suddenly, a brush of… _something_, entirely unfamiliar, made her jerk her head around and look at whatever was behind her. A soft chuckle met her ears, like a soft caress, and then a gentle, light weight moved the mattress underneath her, and a hand, smooth fingertips running through her hair, brushing the cool skin on her bare shoulder.

She jolted backwards, not remembering that she was on the edge of the mattress, and she had no idea as to how high it was above the floor, if there even was a floor. Scrambling for purchase with her hands, she squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for impact, but it never came. Warm, gentle arms caught her torso and held her against a solid chest and set of rock-hard abdomen muscles. Lifting her as if she weighed less than a feather, this person behind her stood, turning her softly in his arms and setting her back down on the mattress. His… this person was a male. No woman could have abs like that, she concluded almost instantly. Plus… the… presence… no, _aura_, was completely masculine. For some reason, she just _knew_ that this person was a man. Almost randomly, she realized that, had she had her sight, she would have never been able to tell without using her eyes.

That soft, quiet chuckle in front of her brought her back to reality, making her instinctively want to back away from this person. Fighting the urge to do so, she raised her chin, tensing the muscles in her back and her arms.

_Relax… I won't bite._

The voice inside her mind made her tense even more, making the battle against backing away from this being even harder to fight. Taking a deep breath, she noticed how much noise she made compared to this… creature. A shiver ran down her spine as a cool touch traced her cheekbone, running down her neck, resting on the point of her pulse for a few seconds before pulling away. Strangely, she found that she missed the contact.

"Who…" _more like what_, "are you?" she asked softly, knowing that he was still there in front of her. Suddenly she felt a shift in his presence. It was behind her now, on the bed. She spun her head around as if she could look him in the eye, but she didn't even know for certain if he were there. She just had to trust her instincts.

_You're very intuitive, for only going blind a few days ago. You're right. You're looking right at me, with those gorgeous blue eyes of yours. Did they come from your mother or your father?_

She narrowed her eyes defensively, unknowingly putting up shields around her mind. That same, identical chuckle drifted to her ears once more.

_I wasn't told when I bought you that you'd be able to resist me through your mind._

"I wasn't told when I was born that I would never be raised by an adult, but I learned to deal with it."

She felt a shift on the bed; it didn't completely disappear as before. She believed that he was just moving like a normal person would. Closer… now too close, she tried to pull away, but an iron grip around her arm prohibited her from getting farther away from him. _Don't._

"Don't what?"

_Pull away from me._ She suppressed another shiver as his grip on her arm loosened, yet again; oddly, she found that she missed the touch. She could feel him watching her, close enough to touch if she leaned forward and reached out with her hand. She could feel a slight warmth radiating from him, but it was a… supernatural sort of warmth.

Suddenly it struck her that he had never spoken aloud to her. Supernatural… wait. "_To the vampires of Midnight_…." Sonia. She remembered… from, how many days ago?

_So… you've figured it out. Intelligent little thing, aren't you?_

The intrusion of her thoughts clarified it for her. She wasn't scared… just… curious, maybe? Why hadn't she ever heard of these creatures before, other than in the gothic stories that Cameron had once spoken of when she had been young, and he'd been stoned to the point of passing out in mid-sentence. What did they do? She raked her mind for the memory, trying to remember. She hadn't been that interested. Who needed some fantastical story to escape from the lives that they lived in New York City? Heroin, crack… now that's what she'd used to escape. Cameron had been a hypocrite too, being drunk for most of the time after she'd turned twelve. Vampires… she furrowed her eyebrows, ignoring the feeling that the man next to her was laughing silently. It finally grew irritating enough to completely keep her from thinking. Instinctively, not even thinking about where he was, she pulled her arm back and slapped what she thought would only be air.

Instead, her palm made contact with the smoothest, taught skin that she had ever felt in her entire life. Eyes widening, she tried to jerk back, but a hand caught her wrist and held her hand against the cheekbone that her fingertips were brushing against softly. Slowly, the skin shifted under her hand; she held her breath as warm lips brushed over her fingertips, kissing each one in turn and ending with an endless kiss in the center of her palm.

She wanted to traced her fingers over that face in front of her hand, memorize the curves and valleys of a single face, brush her fingertips over those sharp cheekbones again, over and over. She wanted to get closer, memorize not only his face, but his body, know that it was him when she saw him next, know his aura.

Softly she closed her eyes and took in a breath as his hand dropped her wrist and her arm fell to her side, limp, as if all life had been taken from it. The mattress shifted once more, causing her to jump slightly, jerked from the trance that he had created. She felt him there still, knowing that he was looking at her.

_Do you have a name that you would like to be called here?_

Phoenix… that is what Evan had called her. She'd never really had a name. Just one's that people had given her. Phoenix. She didn't want to be Phoenix anymore. She felt that she might have a chance to forget about him if perhaps… she was reborn, as the phoenix did when it died. No. She didn't want to be Phoenix anymore.

_No?_ She nodded softly._ Then you shall be called…._

The voice inside her stopped for a moment, and then, the instant before his aura vanished and she knew that she was alone, she heard him speak out loud for the first time.

"Adara."

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_**Review Responses:**_

_demonafrit: _Thanks so much for the kind, encouraging words. It really helps when people put comments like those in their reviews. I still haven't checked out Tithe, the Library at WRA (My school - Western Reserve Academy) doesn't have it at their Library. I have finished The Vampire Lestat though, and it was AMAZING! Oh my god, I love Anne Rice. I just bought The Queen of the Damned over break, so I'm a little preoccupied with it, and, considering my lack of free time, I might not finish that for a while, unless I manage to do so during break.

_Kat:_ Thanks for the review. It's awesome that you haven't found any errors! That makes me so thrilled, to know that my grammar hasn't deteriorated since coming here, even though my English teacher infuriates me... a lot.

_chicklette:_ Thanks for the review!

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	7. Chapter VII No Symptoms

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A/N: There. 3,535 words for you before Winter Break ends. And in time for New Year's! C'mon, I deserve some congrats for this, right? Well… I think that's all I have to say at the moment. Oh. I'm moving them. Just pretend that it was Boston all the time, for the chapters that take place in San Francisco. I know Boston better. Oh, and the lyrics in italics (Have a knack, from way back… etc.), they're from _Out Tonight_, from RENT. OMG… I LOVE RENT! I think I'm going to use it a lot in this story. Anyways, enjoy.

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**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

Adara… she rather liked it. It was kind of… wait… she narrowed her eyes, remembering the name from somewhere. Didn't it mean 'virgin' in Arabic? _What?_ She didn't want him naming her a virgin! She almost called out to get him back, but she knew by the emptiness of the room that he was gone.

She shoved a hand through her mid-back long hair and sighed. Flopping back onto the mattress, she stared up at what she assumed would be the ceiling. Squinting, she tried to make sense of the shadows that she saw.

Spiral… what? Was the ceiling painted with spirals? _Oh man…._ She'd do anything to see right now. She wanted to see the room that she was in. She wanted to see her reflection in a mirror. She wanted to run outside when it was raining and see her eyes and the rainbows of gasoline in the puddles beneath her soaking trainers.

She lifted her hands to her eyes, cold fingers pressing into her eyes, trying to force them to see. She remembered, when she'd had her eyes before, when she'd done this, or when she'd gotten insanely stoned with Cameron… her sight would go red with her lids closed, like separate suns within her own head.

Random- if she took hallucinogens now, would she still hallucinate?

She sighed once more. _Adara…._ She sat up violently, ignoring the immediate throbbing in her head, inching forward on the bed until she found its end. Sinking her feet down towards what she hoped would be a floor, she found contact with her toes… plush carpet. It held beneath the weight that she applied to it, and she stood.

_Deep breath- know this room before you leave._

Step one: know yourself.

Using what memories she could recall at that moment, she pretended she was looking in a mirror. A mirror… Start with the basics. Height- about five feet, three inches, she wasn't tall at all. Weight… last she checked, which was a year ago when she and Lily had had some fun in a doctor's office south of Union Square… her weight was… one-hundred fifteen pounds? Lily was a stick of a thing… she'd been bulimic at one point if she remembered correctly… she was less than a hundred. She couldn't remember being envious.

Drawing herself out of the memory of romping through the pristine, _ecru_ halls, she picked up where she had left off.

Dark brown hair… kind of wavy… hanging down her back, usually loose, reaching mid-back, it normally covered her ears… oh, her ears. She chuckled to herself as she remembered having a piercing party of sorts with a friend of hers who had died a year after… from AIDS. Rachel… that was her name, she'd worked at a tattoo parlor that had done piercing as well. Man, they had had some fun that night. She'd gotten five done in each ear, two cartilage on her left, and three on her right, the others just simple lobe piercings, and then Rachel had done her navel for her. That had _hurt…._ Rachel, meanwhile, had taught her how to pierce, letting her do her ears, at least ten in each one, and one in her eyebrow. She'd already had her lip done, and her tongue, which Cameron had promptly come in and loved. He'd kissed her full-on, playing with it, coming up for air laughing and diving back in for more. Her memory fogged a little then…, Rachel showing them both her nipple rings; she thought that they'd done some smack together… maybe that was when she'd gotten it?

No… she could recall, almost like a dream, when she'd been told. She was… young? Next to a brass bed, bright, gleaming… but old, there was someone there telling her.

_"You need to know… why…. You were a baby. Your mother… brought you… died… AIDS… you have it too… take your AZT, honey…."_

The memory was foggy, but she never forgot it. Chopped, like meat being prepped for grilling. Broken, like glass fragments of a window. She couldn't remember who it was; she couldn't remember when….

Well, it was reality. She had it.

That church… from the dream… meeting him and the song… well, they'd started talking… he had it too. How perfect…. They'd both be okay…, for as long as they had. It didn't matter about getting addicted to smack, or pot… or even him. Yeah… he was like a drug. But, man, he'd made her feel… _good._ Better than anything that the needles could provide her.

Wait… why wasn't she feeling anything? It'd been at least four days since she'd had any…. Why wasn't she shaking? Why wasn't she cold? What the hell?

It almost infuriated her, not feeling the want, the need, the madness. She screwed up her eyes and pinched the skin on the inside of her forearm, hard. Wake up? She didn't know what to do.

She sighed again. _Deep breath…_ dark blue eyes… midnight, indigo… he'd liked them, and the thick, long lashes that were the envy of all the dancers at the club. She laughed silently at the madness of it all…. _She _was mad. But it was okay.

So… _continue…._

Full lips, he'd loved those too. Her lower one tended to pout all on its own. Cute nose, Cameron liked to grab it between her fingers and pretend that he'd stolen it from her; they'd run around the loft together, screaming and giggling like the insane children that they were. Oval face, high, sharp cheekbones, sharp chin, kind of hungry looking, no matter how full she was.

Darren had said that her whole body had that hungry look to it, thin, nearly bony, but soft and pliable at the same time. Sharp collarbones that he'd made out with, sharp shoulders, but soft… sharp and soft? How contradictory…. Oh, and how Whitney had envied her for her C-cup and thin waist and sexual hips. Nice legs… long, perfect, according to the owner of the club where she'd worked for a while. Size seven shoe… small. She liked to paint her toenails the color of her eyes. Long fingers, pretty nails of the same color, sprinkled with glitter when she felt happy.

_... Have a knack, from way back, at breaking the rules once I learn the game…_

She couldn't remember where it came from, but Alphabet City came to mind, Avenue A, B, and C… below Broadway, singing in the fire escapes and playing the guitar on rooftops. Hotwiring bright red Mustangs, escaping the rent over and over again, delinquents, but oh, they had fun. And she was there… in the shadows getting high and taking her AZT all the while.

Dancing and sweating and revolving around a dance floor to his chords and his voice, under his spell, addicted to him, his essence, his aura. She'd had a hard comedown, harder than any one she'd ever had before when her cash had run out for a supply of smack. Cutting, throwing up… maybe she didn't weight one-fifteen anymore. Darren had been there… but he'd been like taking pot after ecstasy, when you couldn't afford the good stuff. How was it that he hadn't understood? Running like crazy, trying to burn off the effects of both the comedowns… and then she'd broken, ignoring even Cameron's warnings… she remembered calling him a filthy hypocrite, getting drunk all the time, but she'd been there, behind the curtain that separated her from them in the loft, slapping her arm and revealing the veins to plunge the needle in and feel the high, the relaxation… passing out… and she had to take more… more… more… it was never enough… she had to have some just to stay normal. Too shaky to dance, to make cash, to get more smack… Darren had looked at her sadly, held her, but he'd never given her more. If she'd had him back, no red eyes, she could have gotten high off of him, without the smack… she was sure she'd forgotten her AZT more than once in that month after he'd… gone.

She was jerked out of her thoughts as her ears caught the sound of a door being opened. Knob turning, footsteps… feminine presence, there was a perfume wafting from the area to her right. It made her sneeze. Shoving her face into her elbow, the force of it blew her back onto the bed, sitting, and most likely looking a little frazzled.

"Oh, honey, do you have allergies?" a soft voice asked, rather matronly, if she thought about it. She could _feel_ the woman coming closer, and she somehow knew that if she reached out in just the right direction, _there…_, she would make contact with her body.

"I don't know… not sure." A smile, she could somehow sense these things.

"It's alright. If you do, we can get you some medication for them. I'm Avery, by the way. He sent me in here to help clean you up and get you fed."

"He?" She set something down, somewhere… a desk? She paused, the sound of her movement silenced for a moment.

"He was just in here, correct? He didn't introduce himself?"

"Who? That man, the one who speaks in your mind?" A soft smile, exhale of breath as if laughing, but not.

"Yes." The woman… Avery, sat down next to her, the weight shifting the mattress beneath her body. "His name…, man, I hope he doesn't get angry at me for this…, is-."

"Why would he get angry at you?" A hand reached out and touched hers for a split second before pulling away.

"Did he explain anything at all?"

"No exactly, although he gave me a name…."

"What _is_ your name, anyways?"

"Phoe-… no. It's Adara." The 'r' rolled on her tongue slightly; she liked its sound.

"He gave it to you."

"I never really started with one. People just called me 'Phoenix'." Another smile… she somehow knew that this woman had a beautiful smile.

"Well then… Adara, you and I are both…." A head shake, a nervous smile. "I have no idea as to how to tell this to you without sounding like a fucking, lying politician. We're both owned by a vampire, and his name is Tidus. That's who you were talking to before."

_Vampire…._ Wasn't that supposed to strike fear into her heart, like in those horror movies when the lightning flashes at exactly the right time? She vaguely thought that she _should_ be freaking out, but she wasn't. Why? _No idea…._

"You aren't going crazy." Avery still sat next to her, unmoving.

"I don't think I am. Maybe I already am crazy, so I can't get any crazier. I don't know. For some reason, I'm not scared… or anything. Maybe… maybe…." She faded off, wondering when she should start taking her AZT again, and then she wondered if she even had any on her.

"Maybe what?"

"I have AIDS. I was born with HIV. Maybe… I'm not shocked, just because I have to live my life as if there's going to be only today for me. No day but today…. Plus, I have no reason to _not_ believe you. He spoke in my mind." She shrugged. "I guess that's enough proof for now, but it doesn't really matter; he still is a _person._ Why should I treat him any differently because of his nature? That's like condemning a vulture for eating the carcass of an antelope. We can't help who we are."

She could sense that Avery was watching her intently, feeling the look down to her bones. She shivered slightly, realizing that she still was wearing the nightdress that she had found herself dressed in… how many nights ago? Avery's hands took her forearms, bringing her up to stand on her own. "Let's get you showered and dressed." Continuing to grasp her forearm, Avery led her about seven paces to her front, pulling her through a doorway that she felt with her fingers, onto a cool, tile floor that sent shivers up her legs and through her back.

Avery let go of her for a moment, and she took the opportunity to feel across the countertop in front of her. Cold… marble maybe? The sink was a deep basin made of the same material; intricate designs were carved into the faucet and the handles. She pressed her fingertips to what she assumed was a mirror, wishing she could see her reflection… just one last time. That'd be enough. Just once.

The sound of falling water filled the room, and condensation quickly materialized on the surface beneath her fingertips. The plush rug underneath her bare feet was softer than the chenille scarf that Evan had bought her… a year ago by now? She remembered burying her face into the soft material, smiling into the darkness.

"Adara?" Avery was at her side again. "Listen, I know that you can't see, fire right?" She nodded silently, leaving her fingers on the mirror. "Do you want me to help you, or do you think you can manage by yourself?"

"I'll be fine."

"Just call my name in your mind if you need me. There's a stereo system in your room that hasn't been used in a while; I'm going to try and round up some albums from the library. What kind of music do you like?"

"Anything and everything."

"Awesome. The towel is hung up over the shower door. When you're done, just dry up and come out. We'll find something for you to wear, and I think I'm supposed to take you shopping at the mall sometime soon. I'm sure I have some extra stuff that's too small for me."

"It doesn't have to fit; we never really worried about sizes in New York… by the way… where are we?" She was kind of nervous about this shower thing. Of course she'd taken one before, but had she ever not been able to see while doing so?

"Boston, Massachusetts. We're kind of on the outskirts of the city though. Tidus somehow acquired three acres of land through a poker game out in Los Angeles. That was when we lived in California. He had the house built, and we moved… three years ago, I think that's it. I tend to lose track of time pretty easily, but maybe that's just because I live with a vampire." She could feel Avery smile at her own joke, so she broke a soft grin as well. "He made me draw up the house plans, well for the most part. The east wing is completely his. He said that the entire process gave him headaches." Avery paused for a moment, as if lost in her own thoughts.

"Well look: my point exactly… I swear… go ahead and take your shower."

The door closed, and she was left on her own.

She took a hesitant step forward, reaching bare tile once more, missing the soft rug under her toes. She stretched her left arm out in front of her and her right to the side, making sure that she didn't bump into anything. Stepping slowly, she walked forward, towards the sound of the shower. Closer… good. Getting confidant, she took two more steps, and nearly tripped over what she discovered to be a toilet, and beyond that, a linen shelf. "Damn it," she muttered softly, biting her tongue. She must be walking crooked. She reoriented herself and took another step forward, her arms out and low incase any other toilets were lurking in weird places in the bathroom. She took two more steps without any collisions, and then, miraculously, she made contact with warm glass.

She wanted to jump up and down for her accomplishment, and she felt that she deserved a couple rounds at Blue Moon for this. She ran her hands over the textured glass, leaves and ivy intertwining under her fingertips, and found a metal bar where the hem of a plush towel brushed the backs of her hands. Following the weave upwards, she found the top of the shower door with her hands as she rose on her toes, curling into yet another soft rug.

Now… to find where it opened. She ran her hands to her left, reaching a wall after what seemed an endless journey over rough glass. Down, towards her hip, there! She found a curved handle and pulled it towards her, for a moment, grinning in triumph, the next, bent over at the waist and clutching her face.

"Ow…," she groaned. _Note to self: don't bang the door on your forehead next time._ She pushed the door back into its proper place and proceeded to strip off the nightgown. She didn't know how she could hurt herself in this act, but she remained cautious, slowly sliding it over her head and letting it fall to the floor at her feet. She stepped out of her underwear, and then rested her hand on the handle of the shower door.

_Please don't hurt me this time…_, she pleaded, and then opened the door, stepping carefully out of its path before raising her foot and placing it in the shower. She sighed as she moved completely under the fountain of hot water, shutting the door and tilting her head back so that her face could catch the water falling onto her forehead, her eyelashes. She smiled at the sheer feeling, wondering why she'd never realized how good it felt before.

She relished in bliss for a moment before trying to figure out just how much space she had. She reached her arms out slowly, and then touched two walls, each at the fingertips of each hand. She turned slowly, and at a ninety degree turn, the width of the shower stall was the same. So, square, her arms' span wide. She turned back towards where the water was coming from and reached towards the wall where she thought the faucet would most likely be. There… she found that. But where was the soap, shampoo… conditioner? She traced her hands all over the walls around her. Finding nothing, she slid down to her knees and did the same at that level. There. Two seats, each on the inside corner of the shower, one had bottles of… stuff… on it. Standing back up, she took one of the bottles in hand. _How the hell should I know whether this has shampoo, conditioner, or shower gel in it?_ She glared towards it as if doing so would make it reveal what its substance was, but it revealed nothing to her.

Well… she hoped that she wouldn't be washing her hair with soap.

She managed to rinse her hair after massaging her scalp for five minutes. Hopefully, whether soap, shampoo, or some other unknown substance, her hair would be at least clean. She took another bottle from the seat and, pushing the cap open, she sniffed it. Lavender. How difficult could recognizing the differences between soaps and shampoos and conditioners be? She wanted to scream, but, instead, she poured some of the liquid into her palms and decided to use it as conditioner.

Running her hands and fingers through her thick hair, she stuck her face underneath the spray of water, opening her mouth and drinking the warm water straight from the showerhead. Who cared if it was absurdly heathen-like? It was water, and she'd suddenly found herself thirsty. Rinsing her hair after hopefully conditioning it, she took another bottle from the great, giving seat of the shower and prayed that this one would be soap because that was how she was going to use it.

_Oh… shit._ She finished rinsing her body, and then she realized something that she hadn't even worried about until now. How the hell was she going to shave her legs, and more importantly, her underarms? She went down to her knees in front of the shower seat and raised her arms as if worshipping it, praying inwardly that there would somehow be shaving cream and a razor there when she completed the motion. None. "Damn it!" she said, hoping that her voice was muffled by the falling water that was splashing on her calves.

Standing, she took both faucet handles in her hands and turned them both to her right. Yelping, she jumped backwards as the water turned bone-chillingly cold. She couldn't get out of the spray of water. Taking one painful and shaky breath she lunged forward and wrenched the left handle in the opposite direction. Stopped. Her knees shook as she groped around for the towel, shivering as she wrapped the body sheet around her and stood in the now quiet shower, teeth chattering.

"I'll be damned if I ever take a shower like that again," she muttered before pushing the shower door open with her foot and stepping out onto the rug and into the warm, steamy air of the bathroom. She slammed the shower door shut behind her and tried to stalk out of the bathroom without letting a toilet kill her… again.

© Silver Phoenix 117, 2005

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**Review Responses:**

_Sonora the Free:_ Thanks so much for the good luck! I'm sure it helped me on my French exam. Thankfully, they're all over; I get to go back in four days… yay? I'm not really trying to write a story about some poor little girl who goes through tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. I'm not really sure what I'm trying to write about, but it's not that. Ha ha… I guess I'm just another crazy writer. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed Chapter VII!

_Madam Jinx: _I'm hurt. A twisted silver knife has been plunged deep within the dark caverns of my heart, and burgundy blood is seeping into my shirt and pooling around my mangled body that lies on the ivory carpet of my room. Nah… just kidding. I'm glad you rediscovered my story! I haven't thought much about publishing; I'd never think that I'd be good enough, but I am copywriting this. Officially… I just have to get my rear in gear and send it off to the bastards that run our country…. Man… I really don't trust them with my writing. I'll TRY to update more often while I'm at school. Maybe I'll devote my only day off every two weeks… a couple of hours here and there and my free periods? Depends on how many reviews I get… ha ha. I make myself laugh. Hope you liked Chapter VII.

_Between2Worlds:_ Bad reviewer! Bad! (Scolds reviewer as a master scolds his dog.) Just kidding! Thanks for reviewing again! OK: The man in Chapter VI is Tidus, mentioned above. I'm checking Chapter II right now… yes! I did mention the vampire who saved her (I even named him for you.). Kaelyn saved her from the fire. The man talking to him in Chapter IIisn't important right now, although I might bring him in later for some drama. I don't know yet. I think Adara just likes to fall out of bed and into hot guys' arms. Lestat is done! And Tithe is purchased and waiting on my bookshelf… or rather, my cluttered computer desk, under mounds of papers, sketches and God knows what else. I'll get to it, eventually. At least now I don't have the excuse that my library doesn't have it. I'm onto QOD, you must be very proud. I even rented IWTV, but I thought it was God-awful compared to the book, other than my two hotties, Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise, but I didn't like whoever did their hair and make-up. Bleh. Overall, I hated the movie. All I had to do though was picture Brad Pitt as Achilles in Troy and I was happy for the most part. Claudia continues to freak me out, especially her ghost that appears to Jesse—I just read that last night at 2am, and I couldn't sleep for 2 whole hours after that, thinking that she'd jump through my window and suck my blood out. But I know that you would somehow stalk her and kill her for killing the writer of DP. Ha ha… wishful thinking on my part. I'm getting carried away—methinks I'm like Avery in that sense…. HAPPY NEW YEAR! (Raises glass of Welch's Sparkling White Grape Juice and proceeds to get drunk off of supposedly non-alcoholic carbonated beverage)

_Unknown:_ Did you really scream into your pillow for 5 minutes! Wow… I think I deserve some congrats for this… (Bows to an invisible audience). Now you're going to run around for Chapter VII! Wow… I'm holding you to that. Hope you enjoyed Chapter VII, and Happy New Year!

_romancejunkie: _Thank you! I'm writing more… I'm writing more. I've got enough ideas for at least 10 more chapters… the only problem is finding the time to put it into writing! Too bad our brains don't have USB drives that we can just take our thought-data from and plug it into a computer and ta-da! Microsoft Word has a new chapter for DP!

_Ebony Night:_ Three reviews at once… man, I was happy when I opened my inbox earlier today. Lucky you. 7 chapters in one day! Maybe you'll get the last one before midnight? I'm thinking of calling up Lestat and Aubrey and having a drunken party at my house. Want to come? We're getting drunk off of Welch's Sparkling White Grape Juice, if you haven't heard already.

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**A/N: Man… I'm going to have fun tonight; no matter that I go back to school in four days. Aubrey's already given his RSVP, my only problem is getting Lestat to give up his whores for the night. I think Louis will bring him around though. You're all invited! The admission price: one bottle of Welch's Sparkling White Grape Juice. (We can steal some from the neighbors too! Aubrey made me invisible once on Halloween, and we got at least twenty!) We're going to play RENT all night long, finishing off by replaying Happy New Year at midnight, and I'm going to play Mimi! W00T! Here... I'll even give you the lyrics!**

Whats the time?  
Well it's gotta be close to midnight  
My body's talking to me  
It say,'Time for danger'

It says 'I wanna commit a crime  
Wanna be the cause of a fight  
Wanna put on a tight skirt and flirt  
With a stranger'

I've had a knack from way back  
At breaking the rules once I learn the games  
Get-up life's too quick

I know someplace sick  
Where this chick'll dance it the flames  
We don't need any money  
I always get in for free  
You can get in too  
If you get in with me

Let's go out tonight  
I have to go out tonight  
You wanna play?  
Let's run away  
We wont be back  
Before it's Christmas Day **(In this case, we'll improvise with New Year's Day.)**  
Take me out tonight (meow)

When I get a wink from the doorman  
Do you know how lucky you'll be?  
That your on line with the feline of  
Avenue B

Let's go out tonight  
I have to go out tonight  
You wanna prowl  
Be my night owl?  
Well take my hand we're gonna howl  
Out tonight

In the evening I must roam  
Can't sleep in the city of neon and chrome  
Feels to damn much like home  
When the Spanish babies cry

So let's find a bar  
So dark we forget who we are  
And all the scares from the  
Nevers and maybes die

Let's go out tonight  
Have to go out tonight  
You're sweet  
Wanna hit the street?  
Wanna wail at the moon like a cat in heat?  
Just take me out tonight

Please take me out tonight  
Don't forsake me - out tonight  
I'll let you make me - out tonight  
Tonight - tonight - tonight

**HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!**

**Questions? Email me at silverphoenix117 (at) myway . com (Forget the spaces. The formatting just doesn't like it when I put email addresses into the document.)

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	8. Chapter VIII Clean

**A/N: Well… y'all should be proud of me; updating in the first two weeks of being back at school. The homework is piling, and it actually took me eight days to unpack my duffel, but that's okay. I was writing for you! Finally, a plot line is beginning to develop. Now, let me tell you now; this is going to be a LONG story. I'm not sure how many chapters, but there are going to be a lot. Hopefully, I'll keep your attention. And incase you actually paid attention to the genre, there will be a developing romance. Just give me a while… (hint hint Impatient much Between2Worlds?) Nah… just kidding. Enjoy.

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****_Boston, Massachusetts_**

"Who did you say this was, again, Avery?" she asked, taking the soft garment put into her hands. She stood in a pair of low-rise jeans that weren't anything like the pair that she'd had since… well… she'd had them for at least three years. Gone. Lost with her past. The worn pockets, the holes in the knees and the shredded hems, broken belt loops, one back pocket half-torn off… she'd loved those jeans. These new ones that hugged her hips, the thighs had no holes. They felt foreign and strange to her skin; the rough material made her want to strip them off and go into an auto repair shop and destroy them until they were as soft as cashmere.

She had finally managed to get out of the bathroom, where Avery had been waiting to move her towards a closet that she stood before. She'd run her fingers through the clothing, memorizing the touch, the feel, and exactly where it was compared to the bed and the bathroom. Ten paces, straight arms out, two doors closed, the closet would be there.

Avery had handed her a pair of underwear and a strapless bra that she said were rainbow-striped. Wild… her imagined pattern reminded her of what she wore when she'd been with Evan. Patterns, colors… recently it had been muted… black… gray. Then… Avery had turned on the music… the music. Oh, she'd nearly cried. A month, thirty days without his guitar, without his voice, alone and silent. Now… even though it wasn't his chords or his notes, it was better than the silence that had taken her soul since he'd gone.

"Dave Matthews Band… this song is…," Avery paused, as if to think for a moment, she thought, "Tripping Billies." _By the yellow flame she dances; remembering once, out on the beaches, we wore pineapple grass bracelets…._ She swayed her hips to the beat, shaking her head, the damp hair spreading over her shoulders, flying as she bent and tossed her head back. Avery laughed, rummaging through something that sounded like tissue paper. "Put the… I think it can be called a poncho-shirt of sorts… well, put it on."

She lifted it over her head, coming to a metal clasp… she fingered it, hearing Avery stand. "It's silver." Square. Like a brooch, thin, simple, she thought that she would like it. Avery's warm hands helped her find where her arms were supposed to go. The clasp rested on her right shoulder, the neckline of the… top… swept down and bared her left shoulder completely, hanging down, the open part nearly at her elbow. The front flared down in a v-shape, resting over the leather belt with the simple horseshoe buckle. Also silver, Avery had said. The back was a mirror of the front. The top itself was plain- no embroidery. Heavy, thick satin-like material. Avery told her that it was white. Jeans… white top… silver…. It sounded like something that she might wear when feeling… new… fresh… clean. _Clean…._

Again, vaguely, she wondered why she wasn't feeling the effects of her come-down. Avery moved around her for a moment, standing behind her, slipping a thin chain around her neck with a small pendant in the shape of a… bird… wings… tail….

"_Phoenix…_," she whispered.

"You're right. I found this while unpacking when we got here. I'd forgotten about it until I started looking for some jewelry for you tonight. Here...," her warm fingertips brushed her right earlobe. "I'm leaving your silver hoops in. They look good with the outfit. So… necklace… bracelet… I got some bangles for you. They're silver too… plain." She took her hand and slid them over her wrists. Adara pondered for a moment, and then shook her hand, reveling in the chime-like sound that they made.

Avery laughed surely at the blissful expression on her face; she could feel the smile radiating from her companion. "Alright," she laughed, "That's quite enough. Tidus is going to look at you weird if you do that all night." She could feel Avery move away from her for a moment, and then she came close again. "Shoes. These are sevens. Do you think they'll fit you?"

"We can try." She was still occupied with the bangles on her wrist. Avery took her forearm and led her to a chair, somewhere at a desk situated… she reached out, palms reaching glass. Window...

"Try these on, and sit." Avery pushed her down, handing her a suede boot with a pointed toe. She ran her fingers over it, running them up the calf and to the seam at the knee, finding the zipper, feeling the sole… it was a right-foot boot. "Oh, take these and put them on," Avery said, handing her a pair of cotton socks. "You'll get blisters without these."

Strange that the process of putting on socks and boots was the easiest that she had attempted up until now without her sight. Standing, she raised her arms above her head, twirling around in the boots that were a perfect fit. "How do I look?" she asked, twisting her stomach and rotating her hips as if she were dancing at the club again. Her hair hung loose, making her feel… feline… sexy.

The soft sound of the disk changing in the player caught her ears. "What's next?" she asked, looking in the direction that the sound came from.

"No idea. Probably a mix or something… oh my god." The techno beat of digital music began to blast out of the stereo.

"I _know _this song!" Adara cried, shaking her hips to the beat and swinging herself around with her arms raised high above her head. "When you're alone, and you need a friend, someone to make you forget your problems, just come along baby, take my hand; I'll be your lover tonight." She grasped Avery's hands in hers, tossing her hair back as she pulled her body closer to hers. "This is what I want to do; let's have some fun," she whispered, pressing close to Avery before pulling away and jumping around on her own, not caring when she ran into the mattress of the bed, falling backwards, laughing and listening to the beat of this song. Oh… they had had so much fun at the club with this one…. "Boom, boom, boom, boom, I want you in my room; let's spend the night together, together in my room!" she sang, finally sitting up on the bed and crossing her legs as the volume of the stereo went down; obviously Avery thought it too loud. Loud… she loved it. Crazy- it reminded her of New York, flirting with strangers, and getting high off of life, drugs, and people.

Avery came closer, her presence moving closer until she sat on the bed next to her. "You're insane," she stated. Adara laughed, throwing her head back. She could feel the blush radiating from Avery's cheeks, coming off in heat and embarrassment.

"I know. All New York junkies are insane, crazy with passion… we can be who we want, dance when we want, and nothing is better than dancing shamelessly in front of dozens of people under a black light… strobe lights… light… darkness… high and crazy and dancing and loving. Who wouldn't love it?" She could tell what she was thinking, the closeness, the holding. "I'm not a lesbian, for your information. Sorry…."

"It's okay. Just… kind of weird."

"Uncomfortable… I know. Sorry. I get out of control sometimes." She leaned back on her elbows, letting the slick material of the top slide around her torso, clinging to her breasts and brushing her sides. She laid all the way back, letting her lower stomach bare, fingering her navel ring, twisting it in the hole. "I had lesbian friends; I'd dance with them… make out with them when I was drunk… but… I'm not attracted to them in any way like… I wouldn't make love with them or anything. Just… have fun; I guess it depends on your definition of "fun." What time is it?" she asked, standing, taking a few hesitant steps towards where the window was. Cool… as if it were night out there.

"We should get you a clock that you can feel… hm… maybe I could make one…." She turned to face Avery, who she assumed was still on the bed.

"You can make clocks. How multi-purpose _are_ you?"

"Oh… I'm an odd-job sort of person. It's… almost six. God! I've got to do your hair." A hand around her wrist, pulling her towards the bathroom; she felt so proud that she knew where it was. "Here… oh man… where the hell is the blow-dryer? I guess I can just put it up wet… don't get sick on me…. Where the hell are the hair-twists?" A clattering noise as something hit the ground make Adara jump in her spot. "I'm going to go get some. Put this deodorant on, and… this… spray it in your hair too, I hope you like Ralph Lauren's Blue. Be right back," she stated in a flurry, gone as quickly as she had dragged Adara into the bathroom.

She was left a little flustered. Thinner stick, she pulled the top off, touched, deodorant. She put it on and then opened the perfume. Spraying it, she sneezed once, but liked it. _Oh well… sneeze all night or smell good? _She pondered for a moment, shrugged, and sprayed her wrists, her neck, and her hair with it.

The door opening stole are attention. Avery was back. "Got them. Now stand still." A brush was run forcefully through her hair, making her wince, but it was quickly over, and Avery was pulling her hair back and twisting it into… she couldn't tell. Twist, pull, put in a hair-twist… the process went on, repeating about four times before Avery was satisfied. Tentatively, she reached up, resting her hands on the messy bun that had some how had materialized at the back of her head in less than two minutes.

"How do you get such a perfect messy bun?" she asked, taking the strands of wavy hair around her face and tucking them behind her ears, only for them to fall forward again. Avery's hand took hers away from her face.

"Leave them alone. They look great that way. I have no idea. Just have a knack for it, I guess." She paused. "C'mon," she commanded, taking her arm again and leading her back into the bedroom.

"What exactly am I getting ready for anyways?" Adara asked, trying to keep up with Avery without falling clumsily.

"Tidus is taking you out."

"Where?"

"The bar." She rolled her eyes, exasperated.

"Can you explain _anything _about this in more than two words?"

"The local bar. Downtown. We're in the outskirts of a little suburb of Boston, but there's a downtown that has a pub… bar-like place that one of his friends runs. He's taking you there. You'll probably go down there a lot, just since there isn't much else to do, but they have an open-mike from seven until ten every night. Do you sing… play anything?"

"Guitar… and sing."

"You should try it. Here." She pulled Adara out of a doorway, into cool air that made her assume it was a hallway. Awkwardly following, she lost herself to a memory once more. She didn't really notice when Avery sat her on a smooth leather couch, leaving, going somewhere in a hurry, saying something….

_They stood together on the stage of the club. He'd surprised her by actually getting the band to play their duet… the duet… their love song, from the church…. In front of a mob of junkies, hookers, pimps, and lonely business men alike, they stood above them, like dark angels, holding the patched, and patched again mikes. She and him stood alone, no instruments other than their voices. Two behind them, Darren on the drums, Kevin on the keyboard, and Ty sitting on a metal stool, acoustic guitar in hand. The first chords struck her soul, grabbing her gut, and tearing her away from the dirty place into the city into a land where it was only she and him… only them. His hand on hers, taking that fist breath, and, oh, she wanted to cry when he began…._

_Lost in your thoughts?_

Wait… jerked away, out of the dream-like memory. Those weren't the words. She jolted painfully away from her wishes and back into the real world. There was an aura here… him… she recognized it.

"You, from before!" she stated. A soft laugh, this time audible.

"Yeah… so kind of you to spare some of your memory for me." The sarcasm… she wanted to dislike it, not trust it, but…- "You have no reason _not _to trust me." He could read her thoughts. She was sure of it now. _Yes._

"So she was right… Avery… you are a vampire."

"Correct. Are you frightened?" She paused… wondering for a moment. Was she? She didn't feel fear. She was actually rather curious. She wanted to know if the legends were true, whether they were myths… or not.

"No."

"Then, will you give me a chance to earn your trust?" A hand… she knew it was there, in front of her, offering. Taking a silent breath, she reached out, fingertips brushing his. His hand wrapped around hers, entwining their fingers, and gently, ever so softly, he pulled her up, with absolute power and grace. She stood before him, hand still in his, and she could swear, she was looking right into his eyes. She knew, for some strange reason, that his eyes were the color... _colors_… of the shadows that she saw.

© Silver Phoenix 117, 2006

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**A/N: Quickly written, last night before disobeying late lights to watch the first episode of Lost. I like it though. Hope you guys do too. Notice the importance of the last chapter. Oh! This is from Ebony Night's review, but I have a question for you all. Would you rather be deaf or blind, and why? Put your answers in your reviews if you feel so inclined. If you're going to review, I mean, answer the question.

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**_**Review Responses:**_

_lovenotknown: _Thanks!

_Ebony Night: _Thanks! No way… I'm not blind. I'd have a pretty hard time typing correctly, and no way would I let anyone I know read my writing to spell check it for me. They'd think I'd be weird or something, writing about vampires. Everyone has too much work and too little time anyways. Thanks so much for the compliment; I'm really glad that you like DP so much!

_Sonora the Free:_ I should scold you like I did Between2Worlds, but I guess I'm just happy you're back! I think that your "bad luck" theory works. I don't want her to be all emo and depressed or anything; just imagine losing your best friend, and top that with someone you thought was your soul mate. I'm not sure if everyone else is reading this, but… GOD! I'm going to ruin the surprise! Just keep reading… and you'll find out. Oh, and Tidus… yeah… I'm in love with him, and I've never even played the game! I've heard it's really good, and one of my guy-friends is going to let me play it at his house on the weekends when we have a few hours of free time together. Salutes Over and out! I really like that…. : )

_Between2Worlds: _I'm about halfway through QOTD. Yay! I deserve some award for this. Tithe is still on my bookshelf (Really, it's visible now.). I have to read The DaVinci Code first 'cause I'm going to go see it with all of my guy-friends on a movie-run one night when it's out. I haven't read the other stories you mentioned, but I'll put them on my summer reading list. Which character were you talking about? Kaelyn, or Tidus? If I do what I'm planning to do with Kaelyn, don't fall in love with him, just a bit of warning. Plus, you'll learn to love Tidus, hopefully—Adara will have a lot more interaction with him than she had with Kaelyn earlier, and possibly… might have in the future, but that's a long way off at this point. Don't worry about love interest at the moment. It's coming! I'm going to let it develop slowly; think about it. A 3,000 some-year-old vampire's heart isn't going to melt from ice in two days. I might do some flashbacks, but maybe I'll leave him a mystery. We'll see. Maybe a sequel will be his past… I have no idea at this point in the race.

_the ice queen:_ Oh yeah… Rent. OMGOMGOMGOMG! (Just read the rest… but thanks for the review!)

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**OMG! This may not effect you at all, but MY DAD GOT ME TICKETS TO GO SEE RENT WITH TWO OF MY BEST GUY FRIENDS AND ONE GIRL FRIEND OVER MID-WINTER BREAK! OMGOMGOMG!**

**You have no idea… how excited I am… O.M.G.!**

**I hope you're all happy for me… or something. I'm going to write more this week and try to update a lot just because I'm so happy. Thank my dad!

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	9. Chapter IX Boston

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A/N: Recovering from a flu sort of virus without any meds is hard and tiring. And being on room restriction from 7:45 – 11:00 pm excluding Saturday nights is really annoying, especially since it's for something that I didn't even do. The entire floor is on room restriction. Anyways, I've churned out 4 ½ pages for you. Enjoy.

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**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

Her hand still lay in his, silent… motionless. Why were shivers running down her backbone at his warm touch? Vaguely, her mind randomly wondered why he _was_ warm. Weren't vampires supposed to be dead? Then how could they be warm? A soft chuckle halted her questions in an instant, inside her mind.

"Are your questions always going to be this endless?" he asked, slowly beginning to move, pull her a little closer, his fingers playing with her palm. She stood there, letting him caress her with his gentle, yet impossibly powerful, touch. Silent… stunned. _Why?_ She didn't know why she had to, but she summoned up some courage, straightened her spine, and pulled her hand away from his. He let her go.

"Maybe, if they irritate you, you shouldn't read my thoughts," she said, trying to make her voice sound like it had when she'd shoved off some cops for trying to arrest her when she didn't even have any stash on her.

_Adara…._

That struck a thought that she'd nearly forgotten. "And furthermore, why the hell did you give me a name that means 'virgin'?" she demanded, setting her hands on her hips, knowing that she was glaring straight up at his eyes. Gray… perfect, her shadows… multi-shaded, flawless. _No! Don't fall for his eyes; you're not even supposed to be able to see._

This time, an audible chuckle reached her ears. "Adara means 'virgin' in Arabic, but, in Greek it means 'beauty'. Honestly, I don't particularly like Arabic; Greek is much more… classy. Plus, naming you something that you aren't, that would be pointless." Adara had to fight hard to keep herself from blushing. _How the hell can he know that?_ She wanted to slap herself in the forehead but refrained from doing so. "I don't even want to know, so don't tell me." He laughed again, and she wanted to tape his mouth shut with duct tape, even though she knew that he would still be able to laugh in her mind, and she'd probably never even manage to get it over his mouth. Plus, where would she find duct tape? He had no right to make her knees weak with just a laugh; he had no right to make her feel so… so….

"Listen, sweetheart, I know that you'd love to just stay here and chat all night, but I've got someone waiting who I want you to meet, and I've got some business to take care of while you're at his place." A hand, offering… she wanted to slap him, but her better instincts told her to take it without a comment… or a thought. She couldn't help the first one though.

"You're going to drop me off at some guy's house and leave me there, alone? Why not just dump me off at some sleazy bar in the city and let me make you a few bucks instead of being a free fuck for a buddy of yours?" Tightening… squeezing… her bones _hurt_.

_Don't._ The pain stopped. She wanted to snatch her hand away, but she somehow knew that she shouldn't. _Just hold onto my hand and walk with me._ A tug, she followed, carpet, linoleum, stairs; he warned her, slowing down, sliding his arm around her waist and stepping down slowly with her.

Outside… cool, evening air… slight warmth in… _that_ direction, she knew… turning her face towards it, feeling the temperature change on her cheeks, she wanted to find out what it was. She didn't realize that she had stopped, him with her. She turned back towards him as she noticed. "Sorry," she whispered softly.

"Don't worry about it. It's pretty tonight… here," he said, moving her, turning her body to face the warmth, her back against his torso… rock hard abs, pecs, she fought the desire to turn and memorize him… she wanted it so badly, to know him… why? His hand ran down her right arm, pushing up the fabric of her top as he took her hand in his and lifted it, pointing it in front of her. "Right there, over treetops that barely reach the top of the skyline, imagine… the sun, it's golden, fades to red, orange, and then a bright, brilliant pink," as he described the scene, he moved her hand up, moving to the different color levels. Suddenly, with a giant sweep, he bent back, her against him, his legs holding both of them up, his knees, clad in jeans, she figured at the feel, reached her mid-thigh, so much taller…. "This, up there," he held her wrist in his hand as she balanced on him, "The deepest violet imaginable… like that water color paint that you had when you were five, remember?"

She could almost picture it, closing her eyes, trying to see the colors… violet, purple, the soft bristles of the brush that someone had given to her… for her birthday? She couldn't remember. Swiping it violently against the cheap computer paper that failed to produce a purple whale when she wanted it to.

She was still partially lost to the memory as he righted her against himself, standing up straight but keeping his left arm around her waist. She tried to turn around to face him, but his arm held her in her place, tucked snugly against his torso. "How did you know that?" she asked quietly, ceasing her struggle.

"You never got the whale, did you?" he asked.

"No."

_Hold onto my arm; it's not too far from here._

She tried to remember how many paces, the turns, the twists, but after the third right turn she sort of dropped the memorization and focused on what she could sense around her. Sidewalk, hard, her boots clacked against the cement. _Clack. Clack. Clack._ So loud, compared to his silent steps. Not even bare feet could be that quiet.

Laughing, chattering… young children, at least two boys.

"C'mon, Jack. You can throw it further than that!" The bouncing of a rubber ball, echoing off of pavement, the skidding of tires, the honk of a horn. A window screaming open. "Jack! Charlie! Get your butts in here this instant. Stop terrorizing the neighborhood with your antics!" A mother's shriek, a baby wailing inside. Slam. The window shut.

The scent of freshly baked cookies… when was the last time she had eaten hot chocolate chip cookies and milk? Wasn't that supposed to mark a special memory in every child's mind? _Clack. Clack. Clack._

Traffic, they turned a corner, crossed a street a block down, about fifty feet. Cars rushing by, but he was between her and the street. She could sense the buildings next to her, tall, multi-story, with lots of large windows, the shattering of glass, a shout, screeching tires again.

"You've never been to Boston before, have you?"

"I've lived in New York for my entire life." Arm tighter around her waist. Harsh steps coming towards her.

"Hey you two," a ragged drawl, sleazy. _Dealer._ The thought struck her mind instantly. She could smell the pot. Not only that. She knew that he had heavier stuff on him too. Hard. Voice. Sounded like a chain smoker.

She knew that she should want something. _Why?_ Why wasn't she shaking, shivering? At this point she should be screaming in her bed, unable to move, shuddering, crying. _It has something to do with him._ She didn't know what made her conclude that.

"Go away." Voice. It was him, holding her tightly. It held such _command._

Five seconds later… gone, just the two of them.

"How the hell did you shove off a dealer with only two words?" she asked, pushing him away from her as he began to walk forward again. His body didn't go anywhere. Puzzled, she shoved at him again, this time a little harder. "What's wrong with you?" she snapped, pushing him away as he drew her closer to himself.

"It's a Jedi mind trick." With that, he let go of her, and… gone! His aura, he wasn't there, in front of her, behind her, anywhere. She stood there shocked.

"What the fuck?" she snarled, whispering under her breath. She reached out violently, finding nothing. "Damn it!" She stood there, still, listening to the traffic around her, the distant honks of car horns, the groan of tires beginning to move on a semi as a traffic light turned green, the swift pacing steps of people crossing the street, the laughter of a couple of teenagers somewhere near her right.

Feel… she stood, stock still. Traffic, slight wind, to her right. Echoing to her left. She must be on a sidewalk, the street to her right, brick walls to her left. She turned towards her left, close to what she hoped was ninety degrees. _Please don't let me run into anyone,_ she begged, though to who, she did not know. Arms out, hesitant step. One more. Another. So far, no moving presences around her. Step, once again. There! Her hands reached brick. Never before had she been so happy to have a solid, secure surface beneath her fingertips… except maybe when it was Evan beneath her hands.

She turned to her right, keeping her left had extended and resting against the wall. They had come from behind her, so it would have made no sense for her to turn back. _Forward._ That first step into the completely unfamiliar was the hardest. Eventually, she developed a rhythm, a beat. Slow, but not hesitant. She developed some confidence after about thirty paces, but then she ran into what she discovered was a payphone.

Her knees wailing, she leaned against the brick wall and looked up, listening to the city. Much to her surprise, she actually missed New York. She'd grown up there. She was secure there, astonishingly. She'd known people; she'd known who to trust. Here… she had no choice but to trust Avery… and him. He still hadn't _really_ introduced himself to her.

"Would you prefer it if he did?" She jumped at the intrusion into her thoughts, and, instinctively, she wanted to strike out at who she wanted to assume was Tidus, but… no… different aura, different voice. More like… a… musician, but not a singer…. "Yeah, I play guitar in my free time when I'm not filling drink orders and talking to pretty girls like you."

Now she wanted to get away.

"Leave me alone," she said, trying to turn and walk back from where she'd come from, but an iron grip around her arm kept her from doing so.

"Honey, there are a few problems with you heading back that way. One, that dealer's back there watching you, waiting for me to give him up. Two, you'd get lost incredibly easily if you managed to throw him off. And three, Tidus was bringing you to me to hang out at the bar while he takes care of some stuff. I just came out to get you."

She glanced back in the direction of the iron hold. "But… how should I know whether you're lying or not?" A soft chuckle. It didn't annoy her as much as Tidus' did.

"Cute. You basically have no choice. If any normal person looked at your circumstances, I'd guess that they'd come with me, just because of the dealer over there and the fact that they'd be cowardly about not being able to see."

_He's a vampire. There's no way that he could do the same stuff as Tidus without being one like him._

"Right on, sweetie."

"My name's Adara."

"He gave it to you, didn't he?" She nodded softly. His grip loosened, and he moved so that his other arm was around her waist. "Come on. It'll take us two seconds to get there," he said, turning her back around and walking in the direction that she'd been going in until she'd run into that goddamned payphone. "By the way," he said quietly, holding her in a soft sort of embrace that didn't… make her want to push away from him. "I'm Kai."

She looked towards him, to her right and up. Brown… flashes of amber light and mahogany wood. If that was really where his eyes were, he was at least a foot taller than her. She wanted to run her hands up his arms and onto his shoulders, memorize his face to know him…. His arm around her waist was comforting a friendly sort of way, the way that Darren used to hold onto her when she cried, the way that Cameron would come in when completely stoned and lay in her arms, burying his face into her hair, holding her as she held him.

She was pulled out of the memory as Kai slowed them down, moving in front of her, pushing something open. The tinkling jingle of sleigh bells caught her ears. Sleigh bells… it wasn't even Christmas…. Soft rock music, the kind that played in bars during the afternoon, soft beat, soft voice… she rather liked it. The scent of draft beers, clean, crisp, yet enticingly dangerous in a golden halo sort of way.

Lazy… hardly anyone was here; she could feel it. Old, worn wooden floors beneath her feet. Slipping a little, he held her closer, walking further into the building, finally stopping and leading her hands to a barstool that reached her waist. She found the railing, underneath the bar counter, stepping up and carefully sitting, then spinning around like a child.

He laughed softly next to her. When she ceased spinning, she leaned her elbows on the wooden counter, feeling the dips in the wood underneath her bare skin. "I hardly know you," she stated, resting her cheek in her right palm, "and yet I feel an insane sort of trust that's been founded in less than ten minutes."

"Funny," he said, laughing softly. "What do you want to drink?" She pondered for a moment, believing that she was looking straight into his eyes because of the brown shades that suddenly burst into her vision. Color, brown, beautiful and golden- pure.

"I want something, some kind of elixir that will actually let me see you and not just the color of your eyes, and it's a little early for getting drunk, and what's the point of a drink without something to jazz it up a bit? Can I just have some tea?"

"Chamomile?"

"Perfect. And honey." He laughed again, across from her. There was a presence towards her left. A child….

"Kai?"

"Yes Maddie?"

"Can I have another hot chocolate please?" A parent, rushing over, she could feel the movement behind her.

"Not now Maddie. We need to get home soon, okay, sweetie?" Mother… Adara tuned her head, bright brilliant blue, and soft muted browns, not nearly as beautiful as Kai's. Blue… like the sky reflected perfectly.

"Here, Maddie. I'll fix you up one to go, okay? Don't worry Kate- it's on the house."

"I can pay for it, Kai."

"I said it's on the house. I know you can pay for it. I don't want you to."

Suddenly, a tug on her top. Small fingers brushing her skin.

"Who are you? Are you Kai's new girlfriend?" Maddie. Adara was lost in the colors of her eyes. She couldn't respond… blue, blue, blue.

"Maddie, you're so silly. She's not my girlfriend."

"But whenever you bring pretty girls, they're always your girlfriend, and she's the prettiest!"

"Maddie!" The mother, Kate… shaking her head, she could feel the movement…. The squirt of whipped cream coming out of a can, the snap of a plastic lid.

"Here you go, Maddie. Make it last!"

"Thanks Kai!" A woman's sigh.

"Thank you, Kai. You spoil her too much." Laughter, and the blue eyes disappeared.

© Silver Phoenix 117, January 2006

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**A/N: Adara has some sort of special… talent. Even though she is blind, she can see the colors of people's eyes when she meets their gaze straight on. She can't see their actual eyes, but the iris colors she sees with all of her vision, not just a speck in the darkness. Just wanted to clarify that incase I was confusing about it.

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**_**Review Responses:**_

_yinyang-shadow:_ Thanks! Intriguing… actually you spelled that correctly. Yay! I'm going to start a group though that's going to be called: Bad Spellers of the World UNTIE. Hope you liked Ch. IX!

_Madam Jinx: _Yeah… Avery is going to be fun to write up. I wish I were the reader of this instead of the writer sometimes because I'm writing this the way that I wish everyone would write their stories. Long… good length of chapters… flawless spelling, if not grammar. Ha, ha… I'm not very conceited, am I? Hope you liked Ch. IX!

_Sonora the Free:_ She's not emo at all, thank god. I hate emo kids. Have you heard "Emo Kid" by Adam & Andrew? It's so hilarious. I highly recommend checking it out. Just Google search it, and it should come up under their mySpace or something like that. I'm working on stealing FFX from my friend.

_Unknown:_ Me too. I couldn't stand being blind. Thanks!

_lovenotknown: _I'm so excited about going to go see Rent. You have no idea. I'm going to go run around the dormitory until I'm exhausted and sweaty now. Proceeds to scream with excitement.

_Between2Worlds: _I was just having some fun w/ you. OMG… I love food, and virtual food is the second best thing. I've actually just finished eating a box of Thin Mints in less than 24 hours. I'm wired. Bounces up and down. I can't wait until I write my Christmas chapter(s)! But I can't tell you anything! Hope you liked Ch. IX!

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	10. Chapter X Questions

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Wow… it hasn't been a long time, has it? I just realized last night that I haven't updated since I saw Rent. It was AMAZING. Even though it wasn't at Broadway, I still had the time of my life with my Dad and two guy friends in the city. Rent has changed my life. If any of you haven't heard/seen it, you should at the first chance you get. So now… to the story: this chapter began immediately after I updated with Chapter IX (which you may want to reread to refresh your memories), but I have no idea as to why the writing part has taken so long. I've been super, total, crazy busy with everything in life, school, and … more school that I've barely been able to sit down in front of the computer and type, let alone get some inspiration for this chapter. Anyways, I've given you a huge paragraph of an introduction, and I'll bet that more than half of you aren't reading this because of all the time that it took to get it up. I would have had this up around one in the morning last night, but for some reason, all of my commentary and review responses were deleted when I updated. I threw a fit that no one in particular saw and went into my room to power-read through Valiant, by Holly Black. (Between2Worlds – assume everything.)

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**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

"Here you go," Kai said, placing a warm, round mug in her hands. Her fingertips wrapped around the large object, tracing the patterns that she assumed were painted across its surface. Polka-dots… and the handle, there was some sort of swirled curly-cue there. She lifted the mug towards her face; the scent of sweet chamomile and honey wrapped her in comfort. As she took a hesitant sip to avoid burning her tongue, she sighed inwardly and closed her eyes.

Setting the mug down, she smiled in Kai's direction, getting that initial flash of brown and amber that she so wanted to capture forever. "Thanks," she said quietly. Few souls were in there with them, and it seemed that all of them were older men nursing beers, silently, slowly getting drunk, quietly and alone. The silence of their unexpressed misery felt like a weight upon her shoulders. Soft rock music played from speakers somewhere in the bar. She let the piano chords reach her ears without any resistance.

_It's nine o'clock on a Saturday, a regular crowd shuffles in; there's an old man sitting next to me, making love to his tonic and gin. He says, "Son, can you play me a memory? I'm not really sure how it goes, but it's sad, and it's sweet, and I knew it complete, when I wore a younger man's clothes._

"Billy Joel…," she mused.

"You like him?" She took another sip of tea, letting the warmth spread throughout her body. If only she'd had this kind of tea when she'd been coming down, back in New York.

"We used to sing 'Uptown Girl' and, of course, 'We Didn't Start the Fire'."

"We?" The hot tea slid down her throat, soothing her soul in a particular way that chicken noodle soup comforts a young child with a fever.

"We," she stated. Adara paused, thinking back to New York. Somehow, the words just came out, the story, even though she didn't even know why her intuition told her that Kai was… the right person to tell it to. "I've lived in New York City, Manhattan, for my entire life. I don't remember anything about my mother. She died when I was young. I don't know what happened much after that… my memory's… not that good. Maybe… drugs? I don't know. Anyways, I can remember when I was told that I had AIDS. I'd been taking AZT for a while, but I wasn't sure exactly why. Someone had taken care of me for a while. She died when she told me…. I flew through a couple of shitty foster families, ditched the bitches at Social Services, and I ran out into the streets. Anyways, I'd befriended a guy named Cameron who was a little older than me. I think I was around twelve when we left the Upper East Side and went down to the East Village and Alphabet City. Cameron was about two years older than me. I don't remember much about those first years before I started using.

"We eventually met up with a couple others. First it was Whitney, who was the same age as Cameron. She sort of was a motherly figure, even though she always looked like she was fifteen, Irish… red hair and green eyes, not to mention a nasty temper when she got angry. She worked as a waitress at three or four different restaurants in the area. Then Cameron found Lilly. She was younger, about two years younger than me. I don't know my birthday… we just guessed. He loved her… but he loved alcohol more. I think he started drinking when he was fourteen. I'd started experimenting with cigarettes at most then. I can't really remember what I did. School? I know math… and I can read and write. It's not like I'm dumb. We stole a dictionary once and made a game of adding a new word to our vocabulary every day.

"Lilly met Darren at a club where I was trying to get a job a year after that. I was about fifteen. He'd been stoned out of his mind, and she'd taken him back to the apartment that we'd managed to get a hold of. The man hired me. I kept the job.

"I don't remember the first time I did smack. I'd been heavy into crack and acid, but smack… it became my one and only love. I'd been doing it heavy for about a year… and… then…," Adara faded off, squinting at foggy brown eyes in her mind that seemed to try and make her recollect a memory that had been lost.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Kai said, a warm hand enveloping hers, careful to bring the soft embrace away from her tea mug on the worn counter.

"No… it's not that," she whispered, trying to unlock the memories that she knew should be there. Kai's warm hands held hers as she fought her thoughts, digging, searching…. "What the hell? I know they should be there."

"They've probably been locked from your consciousness." Adara glanced up, and now amber and gold swirls of color filled her blank vision.

"What?" She softly pulled her hands out of his and searched for a moment until her fingertips found her tea mug again.

"He might have… I can't." His voice held loyalty to whoever he was speaking of. "That's for him to explain."

"Who?"

"Forget it. How's that tea?"

Puzzled, she squinted somewhat in the direction of those brilliant golden colors. "You can't shake me off that easily. I'll find out," she stated, serious and yet joking at the same time. "The tea's great."

"Good. I pride myself in my tea-steeping capabilities, although most people who come here never order it."

They lapsed into silence, a quiet peace enveloping the near-empty pub. Adara lost herself to trying to find those memories. Dream… she wanted to go to sleep because she knew that it would somehow bring a piece of her memory back. There was just a huge gap between her smack affair that became continuous, she knew, and waking up… blind and with a vampire named…. She couldn't even remember his name now.

"Turn your thoughts towards something else." She glanced up from her gray blankness and met that gold and amber clash of light. She smiled softly, coming to a quick conclusion. "You're right. I am one of them as well." His voice was light.

"How old are you?" she asked, taking another sip of tea that was just beginning to cool. Kai paused; she felt him move closer, as if leaning across the counter toward her… probably holding his chin in his palm in thought.

"I'm three thousand, one-hundred, and sixty-seven years old."

"How old were you when you were changed? Do you look the same as you did then? What color is your hair? Where were you born? What languages to you speak?" The questions just tumbled out of her mouth as she felt him chuckle and then heard him laugh out loud.

"Twenty, yes, brown… gold and copper highlights, Athens, Greek, Latin, French, Italian, German, English, Mandarin Chinese, Korean, Japanese, English, and I'm in the process of learning Arabic and Russian." He took an exaggerated breath, pretending to pant. "Amazing, what three-thousand years of living can allow you to do, isn't it?"

"Wow…," Adara murmured, awestruck. She then smiled. "What's your favorite city, or what are your favorite cities, in the world? Do you have a girlfriend? What's your favorite song? Do you like the Broadway musicals? If so, which ones?" She took a deep breath. "What are your favorite animals? What instruments do you play? What's your favorite NFL football team? Do you believe in gods? Have you ever been to New York City? What's your favorite food? Do vampires need food? Can they eat food? How about beer, can they drink alcohol? Can they do drugs? How -."

"If you don't stop now, you won't remember what I'm answering," he said, interrupting her. "My favorite city is Athens, but I like Paris and Rome as well. I don't have a girlfriend, at the moment. My favorite song is 'The Scientist,' by Coldplay. I love Broadway musicals, but especially 'Rent,' 'Wicked,' and 'The Phantom of the Opera.' My favorite animals are dogs, falcons, and eagles. I sing, play the guitar, acoustic and electric, piano, and I'm teaching myself how to play the violin. I think that you could answer this question for me, but definitely the Patriots. If I believed in a god, it would be Tom Brady, but I don't. I had a Buddhist phase though once, but I don't remember much of it. I've been to N.Y.C., to see 'Rent,' but I like Boston a lot more than I did Manhattan. I'm one of those people who believe that Boston is the hub of the universe. I like lobster, of course, and I'm a sucker for the Thin Mints that those girls… the Girl Scouts, I think that's what they call themselves… sell every year. No, vampires don't need food, but we can eat it, and I still do. Of course we can drink alcohol and do drugs. It takes a lot more for the drug to get to our system, and we can't be harmed physically by them. We're a lot more dangerous when we're high or drunk though, and that's saying something, and we're dangerous when we're clean. Normally, the amount of alcohol we'd have to consume or the drugs we'd have to take would be enough to kill a human. By now, it takes about twenty-seven shots to get me buzzed even slightly enough so that my vision is foggy."

By the time Kai finished, both of them had were laughing hysterically, Adara clutching her stomach with one arm and clinging to the counter to keep herself from falling off of her barstool. It took a few moments for her to calm down enough to gasp out, "H-how… o-on… e-earth can you… re-remember… all that?" she managed, succumbing to more fits of laughter as Kai swung around the counter and held onto her to keep her from falling as she giggled into the warm iron touch of his chest. She heaved in a jagged breath as she pulled herself back away from him and coughed out the rest of her hysterics.

"I just do," he said; she felt him lean against the counter next to her, the warmth of his body radiating in the small space between her body and his. "It's one of the perks of living forever."

"Do you really live forever? How can you be killed? How long can you survive without blood? Is it possible for you to live without killing?"

"Yes. Stuff like decapitation, stakes through the heart… just severe stuff. A couple of bullet wounds aren't going to kill me. We can survive without blood for about a month to two months, depending on the strength of the individual. I've gone for twenty-seven days. Yes. You don't have to drain them dry, and you can survive off of animal blood or blood from hospitals, but fresh blood from a live human is like…," he faded off.

"Smack for me?"

"Kind've like that." Adara absorbed the information for a moment before Kai prodded her again with his musical voice.

"Alright. Those questions, are you planning on driving a stake through my heart?" Adara giggled again.

"You know it."

"Morbid little thing… alright. You asked me twenty-five questions. My turn." Adara narrowed her eyes as she found the glint of amber again.

"You counted them? What's wrong with you?"

"Twenty-seven now." She promptly shut-up and crossed her arms over her stomach, her right elbow on the counter.

"One: what's your favorite food?"

"Ants on a log."

"Pardon?" Adara sighed. It disappointed her how few people knew the codename for the popular kids' snack.

"Celery sticks, peanut butter, and raisins."

"Two: what's your favorite drink?"

"Chamomile tea, hot chocolate, and Mike's Hard Lemonade."

"Three: what did you do for work in New York?"

"I danced… at a club called Corruptela."

"Ah… 'seduction' in Latin… four: what's your favorite part about New York?"

"Central Park… we used to go there sometimes… to get away from life. Alphabet City is really fun too though… it can be exhausting sometimes… that's when we went to the park."

"Five: if you could go anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?"

_With me…_. The voice sounded vaguely familiar, and for a moment, a flash of flawless brown eyes stole the amber from her vision. "Who?" Kai asked. Adara herself didn't even know.

"I don't know… someone just spoke in my mind… and I don't know who it was." She clutched her mug with her hands, shivering slightly, for an unknown reason. She felt Kai move around her and hoist his body onto the barstool next to her. A strong, warm arm wrapped around her shoulders.

"It's okay. Just tell me if they speak again, okay? Six: what are your favorite animals?"

"Dogs… horses, orca whales, and snakes."

"Seven: what's your favorite color?"

"Gray… but I'm not too fond of it anymore." He chuckled slightly. She looked towards the sound and caught the glimpse of amber and held it.

"Eight: choose: money or happiness."

"Happiness."

"Nine: choose: Coldplay or Dave Matthews Band."

"I can't. They're both wicked awesome."

"Right on, babe. Ten: choose: Broadway or Hollywood."

"Broadway."

"Eleven: choose: blind or deaf."

"Deaf."

"Twelve: choose: rain or sunshine."

"Rain."

"Thirteen: are you superstitious?"

"No."

"Fourteen: choose: leather or lace?"

"Leather, of course. I'm a dancer, c'mon." Kai laughed, his warm arm still slung over her shoulders. She smiled at him and rotated her hips to the beat of the music playing in the pub.

"Fifteen: what do you think is the worst way to die?" Adara paused for a moment before speaking, letting her moving body still.

"Alone… without those you love."

"Sixteen: what are your pet peeves?"

"When people crack different parts of their bodies, like their knuckles, backs, or necks – I think it's gross. And nail-biting. It's a nasty habit."

"Numero dix-sept: if you could have one wish, what would it be? Oh, and you can't wish for more wishes or any of that crap."

She broke eye contact with him, losing the brilliant flashes of amber and gold. Gray, shadows… she wanted to pull her hair out. Of course she wished she weren't blind, but that was entirely, completely selfish. So would be a wish for having Evan back. She did want those things. She wanted to be clean. She wished that she didn't have AIDS. She wished that she had known her parents. She wished that Cameron wasn't an alcoholic. She wished… she wished? Did she wish that she wasn't addicted to heroin?

She thought back to earlier that evening. Listening to the sunset, instead of seeing it. Listening instead of seeing….

"I wish that I could see the sunset, one, last time."

"I'll let you off with that one. You got ten free questions."

"What? You made such a big deal of getting twenty-seven instead of twenty-five. Why are you stop-?"

"Because the person that can let you see your sunset is walking through the door." His arm slid off of her shoulder, and she was left with a cold, empty feeling.

The tinkling of the sleigh bells was slowly lost to her mind as a memory of guitar chords and a young man's voice whispered in her head.

_I'll let you see your sunset, one, last time, and you can stay out on that roof for as long as you want because I'm here, waiting, I'll wait through the end of time until you're ready, and that sunset's gone and all that's left for us is the night._

"Evan?" she whispered, turning towards the last jingle of sound from the doorway of the pub. The song playing ended, letting silence fill the room as the track changed.

A hand on her arm that was entirely familiar made her jump. _His bloody goddamn silent footsteps… what the fuck, is he trying to give me a heart attack?_

"Try a name without any of those letters. You might get closer."

© Silver Phoenix 117, March 2006

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**Review Responses:**

_Sonora the Free: _I am so bloody sick of emo kids. I walked into a retro McDonald's the other day (Forgive me, even writers have to eat, and I'm no cook, although I'm managing some French toast sticks was a hangover-tiredness after staying up until three last night.), and there were three emo kids, one boy with dyed black hair and two lip rings that looked like black vampire fangs. I was like, "WTF?" But I got my food, and they left after a while, so then I was able to digest the fats, oils, and unknown substances in McDonald's food somewhat productively.

_lovenotknown: _Of course! Who do you think I am? I did actually run around the dorm screaming, and then my friend asked me when I barged in on her in her room, "Are you high? Give me some." And I said, "I'm a Rentaholic, of course I'm high, because I JUST GOT TICKETS TO GO SEE RENT LIVE AT PLAYHOUSE!" Anyways… man, those French toast sticks were good… a little burned though… hope you liked Chapter X!

_Between2Worlds:_ Done assuming yet? Yes! I'VE FINALLY FINISHED TITHE! And Valiant now…. OMG, you were right. Tithe was AMAZING and WONDERFUL. Holly Black knows how to write a book. She used the perfect amount of violence, drugs, pain, romance, fantasy… everything. Tithe was perfect. Valiant was alright… but I wasn't as immediately captivated as I was with Tithe. I think the only thing that I'm not really loving is that Kaye and Ruven both have green skin…. I couldn't do that. But I'm getting ready to start a fanfiction for Tithe; I even have the first chapter partially written! And I finished QOTD; I loved it, but not in the way thath I loved her first two books. It was completely original… like purely unique. That's what I love about Anne Rice… she's such an individualistic writer. Anyways, to your review: flu's gone by now, which is good. If it were still hanging around at this point, that would be a problem…. I'm glad you think the eye color sight is cool; I was a little unsure of that. Perhaps it would defeat the point of her being blind, but I had to give her some sort of color. Your analysis is great; even I wouldn't have seen that until reading something about fifty times. I'm really picky about the eye color I give my characters. It's very distinguishing, just like their auras. And no… don't say, "It's just me." That totally makes me feel really cool! I at least put mistaken imagery into my writing! Ha-ha… I honestly can't tell you anything – it would totally ruin the story. I'm glad you like Kai – he's awesome… I wish he were my best friend, but he's close in some regards. He's named after one of my favorite TV characters from a show that my little sister used to watch when I was like… eleven. His name is Hawaiian, and means either "ocean" or "like the sea." W00T for Hawaiian names, c'mon. W00T W00T! Ha-ha… I'm such a lunatic, but aren't all writers? Maddie is great – I love her to the uber extreme because she's like, the idealistic little girl, and she and Kai are so cute, and her mom's always like, "We can pay," when she really can't, but Kai always gives Maddie hot chocolate on the house. I love hot chocolate too… not the icky kind made with water – milk is the way to go. If you ever go by Kai's pub in your dreams, get some – it's so amazing it's better than Never. (If you know what I mean… ha-ha, from Valiant…) Thanks for the mundo props… that so reminds me of one of my good friends. I reread the sunset parte, and I'm not huge on how I wrote it. I mean, I guess it's okay, but I'd rather rewrite it into something more… important. It really shows something about Tidus, and I think I chopped it up and didn't put enough detail into that part of Chapter IX. Oh well, we'll have more sunset scenes in the future, I hope. (ie. Adara's wish) Thanks so much for you're great review. I'm sure the others are all like, "WTF is with her writing 500 words for you, and we get about 50 tops?" Ha-ha… they should write reviews like yours and then they'd get essays in response like this one. Hope you liked Chapter X! Cheers!

_Eternally-BlackRose-Yours:_ Awesome. Glad you approve. Hope you liked Chapter X!

_Madam Jinx: _Ah! Now I feel good about putting in her sight thing… two positive comments about it, go me! I love reading too. I've finished about four books now over break, and I have two more… one of which has been sitting on my shelf for over a year… Between2Worlds should be proud of me for finishing Tithe about two months after I got it. Ha-ha… sorry for keeping you waiting on this chapter! I'm going to try and get another one up before break is over.

_wolves-eyes:_ Good. What else am I supposed to say?

_angelofshadows:_ Thanks. Rent, OMG it's amazing. I would recommend listening to the original soundtrack first, and learning the plot line before seeing the movie. I think it's musically better, although the acting is better in the movie than in the musical. If you ever get the chance to see it live, totally grab those tickets and as many as you can. It's amazing, and it's changed my life so much. Hope you liked Chapter X!

_wannabanauthor: _Okay, thanks! Hope you liked Chapter X.

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**Okay, you less than 20 word reviewers – I went back and found two spelling errors in, like, Chapter VIII (I can't really remember.) – I just don't know what to say to "OMG, it's great so far!" Um… "great?" I just beseech you, I totally love getting reviews, but even just babble about the news that I can comment on is much more satisfying, and telling me WHY you like it is even better! Tell me what you hate about it, what should be fixed/rewritten, tell me that you love Kai, and you have no idea why. Ooh… I'm a poet, and I didn't know it…. ha-ha…. Well… anyways… I'm sorry for being all bitchy… it's morning, and I'm just starting on my Starbucks. I'd send you all some virtual Starbucks in allowed it. Oh well… I love you all, and thanks for being so nice! I promise that I'm going to try and get another chapter up in the next two weeks. Well, "over and out," in the words of Sonora the Free. Love y'all.

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	11. Chapter XI Renee

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I finished this the day after I posted Chapter X, but I figured that I should make you all wait a little longer before giving you another present. I'll spoil you rotten at this rate. This chapter was so much fun to write. It came along very quickly, probably because of all the dialogue, but I like it a lot. Enjoy. Oh, and the lyrics are from the Goo Goo Dolls' song, 'Name.' It's awesome - check it out.

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**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

"Well, hey there, Tidus."

Adara felt empty and rather vulnerable without Kai's arm slung over her shoulder. She clutched her mug of tea as if it were a lifeline. She knew who it was who had just walked through the door. There were no flashes of color. She only saw shadows and swirls of silver, gray, and black.

"Kai, you greet me as if the last time we saw each other was earlier this morning rather than two years ago." Adara felt his presence loom closer to them. She didn't hear any footsteps. She silently pleaded to whatever god there was if it even existed.

_Please don't let that motherfucker touch me…._

_I never fucked your mother. Don't call me that._

She nearly jumped out of her own skin.

_You bloody left me in the street to rot or be run over! I'll call you a motherfucker in my mind if I want to, motherfucker. I'm sure you've fucked somebody's mother in your lifetime._

_Shut up, bitch._

She wanted to slap him.

_Adara, you know that I can completely hear what you're saying._

_What the fuck?_ There was no response from the shadowy aura in front of her. The words speaking in her mind had a warmer feel to them, versus the cold stone of Tidus'. _Kai…._

_I would guard your tongue, or your thoughts. You should learn how to shield them. Obviously, I can't know what he's saying to you, and, in turn, he doesn't know that I'm talking to you…_ "Or at least, he doesn't know what I'm saying, right?" She could feel Kai's jester-like smile directed at Tidus.

"Will both of you just stay out of my goddamn fucking head?" she snapped, urging her fingers to stop trembling with… what was it? Fear… rage… anger? She didn't know.

"I didn't know you're head was capable of fucking." A soft sigh whispered to her ears from Kai's direction on her left.

"Will you give her a break? You _did_ leave her in quite a hurry without an explanation."

"She lived in New York. She should know what cities are like."

"I do know what they're like, but I never memorized where every bleeding payphone was on each and every bloody fucking sidewalk."

"Not my fault, and I don't believe that sidewalks can fuck."

"Would you just shut the bloody hell up, bastard?"

_Silence._

Her body was suddenly overcome with complete and utter claustrophobia. It felt as if her brain was being constricted within her skull; her joints grew tight and immobile. Her thoughts were no longer directed at him, but they were only focused on the intensity of the pain. She felt as though she had to claw through her skin, and, when she tried to scream, it never came. It only brought more pain.

"Tidus, what the hell are you doing?" Kai asked; she could sense that his hand moved to her arm, tugging at her, but she couldn't register the feeling. The blood in her veins pounded.

Then, in an instant, it was gone.

"It's a miracle that you managed to hold onto that mug, sweet pea."

"I'm not a pea, and I sure as hell am not sweet."

"What do you want then, snapping turtle?"

"Oh, bite me," she retorted. Only after the ten seconds of complete and utter silence, other than the soft rock music playing from the speakers and the whirring of what she assumed to be fans overhead, did she comprehend what she had just said. "I didn't mean that literally," she whispered. Her death grip on her mug was beginning to make her fingers go numb. A shudder ran down her spine.

_Like I said… be aware of what you say and think._

"Kai, if she wants to write her own death wish, stop trying to prevent her from picking up the pen. Adara, I'm not going bite you, for now. Set down that mug and take a deep breath; relax. Kai's too much of the loyal puppy type to let anything happen to you anyways."

"And if I'm a puppy, what would you be?"

"A cobra, waiting for the opportune moment for striking at the 'harmless' little pup."

"What if that pup knew how to fight?"

"Age, my friend, comes with wisdom, and while that pup is tripping over its paws, the speed of the cobra will make up for fighting skill. But you're not a dog, and I'm not a snake; we both know how to fight, although I proved that I was better a while ago, didn't I? It doesn't matter now anyways. I'm not in the mood for one."

She wanted to be distracted by anything… everything. She focused on the music playing in the pub that should have had a warm comfort to it, like it had had earlier.

_And now we're grown up orphans that never knew their names. We don't belong to no one; that's a shame. But if you could hide beside me, maybe for a while… and I won't tell no one your name. And I won't tell 'em your name. Scars are souvenirs you never lose. The past is never far. Did you lose yourself somewhere out there? Did you get to be a star? And don't it make you sad to know that life is more than who we are?_

"Hey." A gentle nudge in her side brought her back to the real world. She found herself cold… shivering slightly. "You okay?" Kai's touch on her hand felt like fire, but it didn't last. He was trying to bring her out of where that song had take her… a beat up apartment in New York, a bunch of broke, addicted kids.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said quietly, as if she were speaking to Darren or Cameron (if he wasn't too drunk to not notice) when she was so high off of smack that she was flying by just sitting with her back to the corner of the rotting wall, where her single mattress was shoved there.

_No you're not._

"Shut up." She wanted to glare at Tidus, but she couldn't find his eyes in the constant haze of shadow. Kai groaned at the two of them.

"What the hell are you saying to her?" he asked.

---

Kai looked at Tidus through the strands of dark chocolate hair falling into his eyes. Tidus stood before him, hands shoved into the pockets of his dark jeans, his black leather jacket's collar popped up against whatever wind had been sliding through the allies of the city. Tidus' dark gray eyes glared at Adara from underneath a mop of too-long, pure-black hair.

_What the fuck is wrong with her?_

_Have you even looked into her past, at least once?_

_Yeah, enough to get that idiot boy who was changed by some idiot vampire out of there._

_She knew that someone had taken her memories of him away. Why would you do that to her?_ He watched Tidus' expression carefully, but it didn't change, just the same, juvenile, pissed-off look that had become a poker face for the vampire that was at least twice his age.

_Because she's too hung up on him. When Kaelyn had found her, she'd been moping around for a month after he'd died, getting high and cutting herself. Haven't you seen the scars? You should feel her… she's so junked up that if I weren't in there right now fighting it, she'd be immobile, screaming on the floor from the pain and the mad desire to fill her body with more of that rubbish. Her body is dying from not only her addiction, but her disease. That AZT stuff is shit and only gives them false hope and maybe a couple of months… years more instead of a life._

Kai could see a glint of steel in Tidus' eyes, but it was gone as soon as it had flashed. _It's not like the kid gave it to her or anything… what do you have against him? You do know that it was her mother who passed it on to her, right?_

_Of course I know it was her, you retard. I don't care about her past. But I do care about the fact that he's trying to get her back. Vampires shouldn't worm their way back into their pasts. He's trying to shove his way into her mind now, as we speak._

_Why shouldn't he?_

_I've tried and failed. I've watched others try and fail. And it not only messes the vampire up, but it screws around with the humans too. And since I'm the one protecting her now, I think I have every right to protect her from him._

_So that explains everything about you… messed up, huh?_

_Maybe I will get into that fighting mood tonight… shut up, puppy._

_---_

Kai laughed out loud at something that Adara hadn't heard. She had slowly been pulling herself out of her past, sighing back into reality. She jiggled her heel nervously. She wanted to do something, get out of here, run… she felt so confined.

"Kai, can I have a beer?" she asked suddenly, shocked at her own question. She'd never really even been that fond of alcohol. It was probably because of Cameron… not that smack was much better for her… probably better to be an alcoholic than an addict.

"You're underage."

"I think I'm close to eighteen."

"Twenty-one, sweetheart."

"Shit." She sighed. "Can I have a virgin Pina Colada then and pretend that it's got a hell of a lot of rum in it?"

"Why on earth would you want to get drunk?"

"'Cause it feels good."

"You like poisoning your body?"

"No… but-."

"Then why do you want the alcohol?"

"Because she wants to escape from it all for a while, come back, find that life's worse and get drunk again. It's just like with drugs."

"You don't know anything about my life, bastard – just shut the fuck up!" The violent tone of her voice scared her. She'd never talked to anyone that way, except for maybe her foster parents. She didn't understand what was making her hate this person so much that she bitched at him at every chance she got. She knew that she should apologize before it was too late, but….

---

_I'm going to kill her soon if she keeps this up. I can't hold my temper much longer._

Kai watch Tidus' face shift into a smoldering furnace of seething anger. His eyes had a slightly red tinge to them. _Go… cool off. I'll watch over her until you're okay._

_---_

Suddenly, in an instant, Tidus' aura was gone. Adara let out a breath that she hadn't realized she was holding. "You should be more careful about what you say to him."

"But he makes me so angry," she said, realizing that she sounded like a whining child.

"Why?"

"That's just it!" she exclaimed. "I don't know!"

She could hear him sigh audibly, felt him shift and then heard a slight thump. He'd jumped off of his chair, and now she felt him moving around her to the other side of the bar.

"Tidus is honestly a good guy," he said slowly. She could feel him moving in front of her, heard the crisp grind of ice being scooped.

"Then why is he such a jerk?"

"All vampires are jerks."

"You're not." She got a laugh from that. A blender was turned on, the sudden clamor making her jump in her seat and grab for the counter to keep herself from falling backwards. When it stopped, she released her grip on the edge of the smooth, worn wood.

"Of course I am."

"But you aren't as… infuriating…," she mumbled, pushing her hair away from her face. It slid over her shoulder like a waterfall slips over rock.

"Maybe not, but I can be, depending on the person. I like you, so, of course, I'm not going to be a jerk to you as much as I would be to say… that drug dealer waiting to catch you earlier this evening."

"But… why on earth would he _want_ to piss me off? I don't get it."

"You technically shouldn't. I don't think he wants to piss you off; he probably just does it because he's pissed off about something else that involves you."

"Then he should talk to me about it, so I can know what's going on! I swear I'm going to kill him if he keeps this up." Kai laughed and set something in front of her. "What's that?" she asked.

"Your virgin Pina Colada." She tentatively reached her hand out, searching for the base of the glass so that she wouldn't knock it over. She found it, already coolly slick with condensation. Picking it up, she found the straw, stirred it, and took a sip.

"It's good."

"I know." Kai sighed once more. "I don't think that you'd get even close enough to scratch him, let alone do something drastic enough to kill him. He's lived for at least six-thousand years. When I met him, he was working as an assassin. He still does some stuff when he wants to… usually when he's bored."

"Is that supposed to make me feel safer?" she asked. A chill ran up her spine. She couldn't tell if it was from the Pina Colada or the information that Kai had just relayed to her.

"Well… it also means that, if he's loyal to you, you'll probably die from old age."

She didn't mention anything about her disease. It puzzled her too much that she wasn't having any symptoms of withdrawal to talk about it. "I'll probably die from running over payphones before I die from old age," she said, trying to make light of her situation.

"Funny," Kai said. She heard him throw something together and then drink it quickly.

"That was a shot, right?"

"A triple." She shuddered.

"God, you scare me."

"I just… would suggest giving him a chance, okay? He's got a temper, as you've already witnessed. Just… be honest with him, but don't be stupid."

Adara heard something that shocked her then. Clicks on what sounded like stairs, and then… a ridiculously happy bark. She could feel the grin emanating from Kai's direction. "Hey, I've got someone for you to meet." She felt him disappear for a moment, and then his aura flashed back into her senses, but it was some distance away. "Come here," he said, from across the room.

She hesitantly slid off of her stool, leaving her drink and starting in the direction of his voice. "Oh, sorry." Suddenly he was at her side with his arm in her elbow. She jumped at the unexpected contact.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" she asked. She heard that same clicking again, getting nearer. And suddenly she was nearly knocked backwards. If Kai had not been holding her, she would have been flat on her back. Her face was bestowed with wet, warm kisses, loving her in the way that only dogs can accomplish. She giggled as she tried to push the dog down while Kai held her upright.

"Sit down," he commanded, laughing. "Adara, I would like you to meet Renee," he said. Taking her hand, he held her while bending her torso so that she was holding her palm to the doge in front of her. An immediate paw in her palm made her smile and pull away from Kai's hold, spilling onto the floor of the pub and reaching towards Renee with both hands, sinking her fingers into warm, silken fur.

Renee's face was friendly and soft, her nose wet and cool against her hands. She ran them all over her, down her legs, onto her torso while Renee promptly rolled onto her back for a belly rub. Adara laughed out loud at the pure pleasure she felt while memorizing Renee's form, down to the rounded tips of her ears and the feather-like flag her tail.

"She's a Golden Retriever, isn't she?"

"Yep," Kai said. She felt him slide down next to her, his hands reaching for his lady. "Purebred, yet left on the streets. She's about three years old now, and she's perfect. I love her to death."

"She's beautiful," Adara praised, running her hands all over the lively dog before her. Renee jumped up from her spot on the floor and began licking Adara's face all over again. She laughed while Renee yipped, trying to push the dog away without really wanting to do so. Renee didn't go anywhere.

Adara then slid her hands up to Renee's face, holding her still while she looked straight at her. A brilliant flash of liquid amber, flaming bronze, and melting chocolate brown stunned her into silence, running her hands over Renee's delicate ears. "She has your eyes," she stated, a sense of shock in her voice.

"What?" Kai asked.

"She has your eyes." He was silent for a moment, and then she felt his hands running down Renee's back.

"I guess… in a dog-like way."

"Whatever… she has your eyes." Adara smiled and brought Renee's wonderful head to her face, kissing the dog's forehead.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I like her."

* * *

**FYI: Renee's name is pronounced Ren-nay, like Renée Zellweger.**

**Sneak Peek: well… not really, but a little bit of info… the next chapter will be focused on Tidus, and hopefully, will be the foundation for at least a compromise between him and Adara. Life is great because I'm totally in the writing mood, and I started Chapter XII the minute I finished this one. Love y'all! Please keep reviewing - it's what motivates me to keep writing this!

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_**Review Responses:**_

_Sonora the Free:_ Wow! You write songs... that's admirable. I love music, but I have no talent in that area... oh well... I'll just listen to my Coldplay and enjoy it. Glad you liked Ch. X - I know! Wicked is amazing. It's playing this summer here, but I don't think I'll make it because I'll be out of school and 500 miles away from the theatre. Yeah - Tidus walked in. Ha-ha... hope you liked Ch. XI!

_Between2Worlds: _Well... I'm not really sure what to say here... we've been emailing almost everyday, so... ha-ha. I don't think you're going to get a 21-line reply this time. You might not even beat Sonora's response. o.O Hope you liked Ch. XI - this one's in your honor, as hardly anyone has reviewed in two weeks. Must have been that delay from February to March.

_Fk306 animelover:_ Interesting name... anyways, thanks! Hope you liked Ch. XI.

_Madam Jinx:_ I was scared that you'd stopped reading after a week of the chapter being up! Sunset... as B2W would know, I'm thinking of rewriting that scene. It's very important to the story, I think, and I feel as if I... didn't write it well. Awesome - thanks so much for the positive-ness! I totally need it, as I go back to school in two days. Ugh...

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	12. Chapter XII Tidus

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I had a little rant going here about reviewing, but I decided that the fact that I got four in a couple of hours was... something that I could forgive everyone for. So lucky you, readers who don't review. Anyways, I go back to school tonight, so I just thought that maybe you'd like this before I get busy to the point of being sick. I can't guarentee when Ch. XIII will be up, so you're going to have to be patient, but send me an email (It's on my profile.) if you want to bugger me into being faster about it. I generally respond to emails that tell me to get my rear in gear in a nice, but firm, way. Anyways, enjoy. Maybe I'll start chapter dedications. This one's for all of my reviewers! Love y'all! We wouldn't at Ch. XII without you.

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**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

If anyone had been standing beneath a rather insignificant cliff that jutted out into the Cape Cod Bay, they would have seen a rather strange sight. Up on the rugged rock structure's edge, a man stood, his hips thrust out towards the ocean, his back curved at the shoulders, hands jammed in his pockets. If anyone had been standing beneath that rather insignificant cliff, they would have felt the immense radiation of severe coldness that even beat the fall wind that was storming off of the bay. If anyone had been standing beneath that cliff that jutted out into the Cape Cod Bay, they would have turned around and left the man to his thoughts.

Tidus liked the feel of the wind cutting through his hair and whipping it back away from his face. He liked the way that he had to screw up his eyes to keep them from getting too dry in the barrage of ice-cold air coming off of the water. He liked to know that it only took one step to fall into complete and utter oblivion. Tidus liked the fact that he was alone, and if he did take that step, no one would follow him.

The evening air pierced its way through his jeans, making his legs numb with cold. He couldn't feel his fingers anymore… not that he really wanted to or anything… he just liked the sensation of knowing something was there, yet he couldn't feel it… it was there… but it was not.

Someone had once told him never to stand and look out at the ocean at night. He had laughed and asked them why. The person told him that it was tempting. He had laughed in the man's face and told him that that was bullshit.

Now he realized that it wasn't bullshit. He had been coming out here for a while… maybe twenty or so years? He always stood in the same place, staring out into the abyss of black and silver waves, illuminated by the moon. He always came here at night, where the cottages along the coastline were dark, where the constant force of wind kept the lightning bugs back in the barricaded forests.

After two decades of watching this water, he knew that it _was_ tempting. How many times had he nearly stepped over that edge? He couldn't count them. He didn't consider himself suicidal. He didn't really _want_ to die. He maybe just wanted the sensation of the freezing water penetrating his skin… making him _feel_ as though he were close to death. It was like what that kid said in Titanic… something about it being like a thousand knives.

He'd felt as though he was being pierced with a thousand knives before… but it wasn't due to bitterly cold water. And it wasn't acupuncture either.

He chuckled to himself, pulling away from the tug of a memory that was trying to make him relive his past. The bastard who had done it was dead now. The memory was dead, buried, burned. Gone. It was no longer his concern.

Tidus sighed into the wind that made the noise inaudible in the racket that mere temperature controlled. It was impossible to retain the fury that he had left the pub with in this atmosphere. One, it was too cold to keep that fire alive. Two, this place was able to still his temper unlike any other in the world, not Paris, not Rome, not Athens, nor even Boston.

He sighed again and let any remnants of that anger ebb away from his being like water pulls away from the shore during low-tide. He didn't know how long he'd been standing on this cliff. He tilted his head up to look at the pure, clear sky of New England. There was Orion and the Little Dipper, and there was the Big Dipper and Pegasus and the Phoenix, Draco, and all of the Zodiac constellations… he'd always liked the stars. They remained constant while nothing else on the planet did. His mother had told him when he was a child that when any soul died on Earth, their soul became a star and was preserved for all eternity. He knew that it wasn't true now, but he wished it were.

He turned his head from the stars, closing his eyes for a moment, feeling one last breath of wind upon his face. Then, turning away from the ocean, his back to the black light, he walked, with his hands still in his pockets, away from the cliff towards the woods now in front of him.

If anyone had been standing next to him while he was looking up at the stars, they would have seen a child, trapped in the body of a young man. Silver-gray eyes framed by long, black lashes, sharp cheekbones and a delicate nose for a man, thin, well-shaped eyebrows hidden by straight, choppy black hair thrown back in the wind, snapping in its power. Closed lips with the smallest… sad smile on them, and a strong chin. Smooth, pale skin pulled tight over his neck, half-covered by the popped collar of a black leather jacket, the black collar of an Oxford folding into a wrinkle. Strong, muscular shoulders, the shirt not loose enough to hide sculpted pectoral muscles and washboard abs, the top two buttons undone, shirttails half-tucked into dark-blue jeans and a simple black leather belt that hugged a narrow waist. Knees slightly bent, the boot-cut of the jeans brushing the grass beneath his feet, simple scuffed black combat boots looking as though they would crush the young blades, but his entire presentation of himself looked light enough to be thrown back by the wind, yet he remained completely still. If anyone had been standing next to him while he was looking up at the stars, they would have felt tears streaking this man's cheeks, yet they were entirely invisible. If anyone had been standing next to him, they would have shaken their head at their imagination and walked away.

---

Tidus walked along the crowded streets of downtown Boston. The constant tide of people against his body was something that he had learned to deal with when he and Avery had moved to the city. Generally though, it wasn't that bad. Humans naturally avoided vampiric presences, due to an unconscious assessment of auras that they didn't even know existed.

He suddenly stopped in the flow of bodies, ignoring the sudden curses of the business man behind him. He glanced up at the night sky of Boston, gazing up at the tall skyscrapers reflecting the moonbeams that bounced off of their mirror-like windows. His gaze soon fell and rested on a doorway to an abandoned shop with windows that had been cracked and hit to the point of the glass looking like a spider web. There, in the shadows of the little alcove in front of the wooden door, two teenagers sat. One was a girl with ragged blue hair, the other, a boy. They were oblivious to his stare as the girl glanced around once and plunged a needle into a vein in her forearm.

He walked over to them.

The girl looked up and yanked the needle from her arm; it quickly disappeared into the folds of her patched black peacoat. "What do you want?" the boy asked. His voice was raspy. Tidus watched him light a cigarette and take a heavy drag. The boy's eyes were like black voids. He looked like a vampire, but Tidus knew that it was only the drugs there, not immortality.

"I want to you give up drugs and crush that cigarette." The girl glared at him. Her eyes were clear blue… too clear to be fully alive. Tidus wondered what Adara's eyes looked like when she was high.

"What makes you think that just a sentence like that will stop us from doing what we want? It's a free country."

"You can die freely then, poisoning your body with that junk. Is it honestly worth cutting your life in more than half? You're wasting opportunity."

"Why should you care?"

"Why should you? You're going to die tomorrow. Get as high as you want."

The boy's eyes widened. He wasn't as screwed up as the girl; Tidus could feel the stronger pumping of the blood in his veins. "Are you frightened," he asked. The immediate composure that washed over the boy was astonishing.

"No fucking way." Tidus smiled to himself.

"Go back home to your sister," he said, finding the easily accessed memory. "She misses you terribly and wonders what you've done with yourself. I'm sure you're proud of this."

The boy stood up, brushing off his jeans. "I'm leaving," he said, glaring at Tidus. "I'll see you later, Holly."

_No you won't…_.

The boy jumped nearly one foot in the air while he was walking away from them. Tidus enjoyed seeing the terror in his features as he glanced over his shoulders before lurching into a run through the crowded streets.

"You've frightened him away," Holly whined quietly. She seemed to have forgotten the entire dispute from two minutes ago. "I was going to have fun with him tonight…."

"I'm here," Tidus said. He moved to where the boy had been sitting before, while Holly pushed herself awkwardly to her feet. She smiled at Tidus, her head tilted to one side over her shoulder before taking him in her arms, standing on tiptoe.

Her lips were dry, and her mouth tasted foully of cigarettes. Her hair was greasy under his fingertips, her form bony and mal-nourished against his torso as she crushed herself against him. The scent of unwashed clothing would have made him sick if he had been human.

But she was going to die anyways in a couple of hours. He might as well make use of her blood and let another person escape from the misfortunes of the night for another day.

He didn't even need to take over her mind, she was so high. She moved in his arms as if they were on a lurching Subway, careening around corners and thundering through tunnels. He had to hold her tight in his arms to keep her from stumbling out of the kisses.

He let his hand slide under her shirt, holding her thin torso against his body, his fingers dancing over her dehydrated and cold flesh. His other hand slid up from her lower-back and cradled the base of her neck in his palm. She barely registered his movement when he slid his lips from hers and rested them gently against the side of her neck, right above her collarbone.

_Call me sometime if you find out that there's an afterlife._

_---_

Tidus hoped that there wouldn't be one. He didn't want to escape Earth to find out that there was something worse. Holly had died pretty quickly… he hadn't needed much blood anyways. She'd been packed with smack in her blood; even he was feeling a slight… change. No, of course he wasn't high, but he wasn't normal either.

Stopping in front of the door to a warm, rather inviting pub, he pulled out a small leather bound book from his back jeans' pocket. He flipped through it until he found where the writing in it stopped. Below the last filled line, he began a new one, using a pen that he had slipped from his pocket along with the book. H-o-l-l-y. He drew a hyphen and quickly scrawled the date: August 24th, 2005 – 9:57 pm. He quickly shut the book, shoving it, and the pen, back in his pocket.

---

Adara was still sitting on the floor of the pub, running her hands all over Renee while listening to the clamor that filled the now richly warm pub. She could hear Kai laughing behind the counter at something that someone had said. Drunken hoots and buzzed laughter swam about her ears like a lullaby. She felt completely safe here, on the floor, with Kai about ten feet away and with Renee's lovable head in her lap.

A few people had stopped by her spot on the floor and introduced themselves. An elderly man with rough, calloused hands named Jack knew Renee well, standing there for a while, petting the Retriever. She'd felt completely… comfortable with his sweet elderly blue eyes. He had ordered a tonic and gin.

A woman who sounded as if she were thirty had long nails, probably red, and was a little timid with Renee. The green that Adara saw was a nervous type, not dark, not light, shifting between celery and evergreen. She, however, knew Kai well. He'd immediately gotten her a large martini. Her name was Cecilia.

Kate had come in too, this time without Maddie. Adara was a little bit disappointed, but she also found herself scared of her memory of those pure blue eyes. Kate herself had brown eyes, but they weren't like Kai's or Renee's. Hers were more of a solid chocolate, mixed with a little bit of honeyed tea. Kate had sat on the floor next to Renee and Adara, petting the dog, laughing… she had warm, soft, motherly hands that Adara liked… in a rather wishful way.

She had found out that Maddie was seven, and that Kate was a single-mother, working as a teacher at one of the private schools in Boston. She and Maddie always stopped by the pub after Kate picked Maddie up from daycare to get a hot chocolate from Kai. This evening, Maddie was being babysat by their neighbor, Sam; the two girls were watching a movie called Shrek. Adara had never heard of it before. Kate had taken the evening for herself and was swinging by to get a drink and watch a game to get some masculinity in her veins before heading back to the daily grind. They had talked for a while before Kate had gotten up and ordered a Heineken and some pretzels.

Adara found herself shockingly happy. She felt safe and warm in this place… clean… she wasn't hurting for anything and having Renee under her hands was a solid reassurance that this wasn't a dream, and she wouldn't be waking up to a boy with a hangover and her veins screaming for sustenance. She felt _good_ for once, and, to her, it was amazing that the 'good' wasn't drug-induced. Adara felt purely happy.

---

When Tidus walked into the pub, he was immediately engulfed in a warm, comforting aura. He smiled to himself as Kai grinned over at him from behind the counter. He looked around the busy room. It had certainly filled up with people in the past two hours. The booths that lined the right side of the wall were nearly all filled, one with four elderly gentlemen nursing their drinks, another with a young couple sharing a Strawberry Daiquiri. He skipped over the others, turning his head back towards the bar.

"Hey stranger!" a young woman's voice called. Tidus glanced over at the beautiful blonde woman in front of him. He couldn't help breaking into a smile as Kate enveloped him in a warm, motherly hug. She kissed him like she would a son coming back from war, strong and smart on the cheek. "Where have you been for the past two years? Maddie just about threw a fit when you canceled your movie date." He laughed and kissed Kate back on her soft cheek, setting her down on her feet, and grinning at her.

"She did, did she? I guess I'll just have to rent 'The Incredibles' and have her come over to watch it. What have you been up to for all this time? Still haven't found your Johnny Depp?"

Kate sighed, her medium-length, wavy blonde hair falling into her eyes before she ruthlessly shoved it away from her face. "No, unfortunately. Maddie's started school now, and I'm packing lunches, making dinners, helping with all those first grade parental involvements and keeping up with my juniors and seniors at school. You wouldn't believe the number of college recommendations that I have to go through every year. And Happy died last year."

"That's awful… how'd Maddie take it?" Kate sighed again as they moved over to the bar and grabbed two seats. Kai quickly shoved some sort of beer in front of Tidus and nodded to say that he'd be over in a second.

"She cried… a lot. We had a little funeral service in our backyard. Maddie even helped me plant irises over the grave. She loved that goldfish so much…."

"It lived forever. I swear… I think I had five one year, and I ended up flushing them all about a week after I got them." Kate laughed, setting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing it.

"You're probably more one for those cars and motor-cross bikes of yours, aren't you?"

"I kept an aloe plant alive for five years. It accidentally got dumped out when I moved here." He glanced up as Kai appeared in front of him, wiping his hands on a dishcloth.

"Glad you could make it back. Kate says that Maddie's watching Shrek." Tidus narrowed his eyes and looked at Kate.

"Is that a new one?" Kate shook her head, smiling ridiculously at the two men, as if they were her own boys.

"No… it came out a while ago. Haven't you been paying attention, Tidus? When was the last time you went to the movies?" Kai glanced at Tidus.

"No idea… I'm more for the home entertainment anyways… my plasma is a hell of a lot better than their screens, and not to mention my sound system," Tidus stated, shrugging. Kate shook her head again, grinning.

"You and your gadgets." Kai laughed out loud, grabbing a piece of ice from an ice bucket and crunching on it.

"He hasn't figured out how to work a Mac yet… he's so damn stuck in Windows." Tidus glared at his friend and then turned to Kate, grinning.

"The thing is that Macs are made for dumb people. Macs are so dumb, that they are beyond my genius comprehension." Kate threw her head back at that and laughed wholeheartedly. She pretended to wipe tears from her eyes.

"Kai… I think it's time that you learned Windows. Tidus has got you there," she said, finishing off her Heineken. Kai went to his fridge and popped the cap of another one, handing it to her.

"I may technologically stupid, but that doesn't mean that you can't accept free beer from me." Kate shook her head at him, blonde locks bouncing off of her shoulders.

"Kai, you're too sweet. I can pay for it." Kai rolled his eyes, while Tidus grinned to himself. This was a constant battle between the two.

"Kate, just drink the goddamn beer and keep your wallet shut. If you have to spend the money, get Maddie a package of Tootsie Rolls at BP."

Tidus watched Kate debate between trying to argue more, but the Tootsie Rolls got her. She took the beer, shaking her head a Kai, but she drank it anyways.

_She always takes the beer in the end._ Tidus smiled at Kai over the countertop.

_I know. Where's Adara?_ Kai actually laughed out loud, but Kate didn't notice. She was getting a little tipsy with her third free beer and was running her fingertips over the green glass bottle. Kai turned his warm eyes back to Tidus'.

_I'm surprised you didn't trip over her and Renee coming in._

Tidus turned around, sliding off of the barstool. He shook his head as he took in the sight of a young woman with falling, loose chocolate curls sitting on the floor of the pub with a three year-old Golden Retriever. He began walking over to the pair when Renee threw her golden head up and saw him. Barking, she pulled away from Adara, who glanced up in the direction that Renee bounded off towards, barking madly.

Tidus ran his hands all over Renee's head as she jumped on him, her paws landing on his abdomen and shaking with excitement. She licked his fingertips and let herself fall to the ground before running in circles around his feet as he tried to make his way over to Adara.

"Hey," he said, spilling onto the floor with as much grace as he could muster with Renee leaping over his legs to plant her head on his knee and look up adoringly at him.

---

Adara didn't know what to do when she felt him slide down next to her on the floor. She felt as though all the warmth in the pub had been drained away, and the noise of it was muted to a hum that barely registered in her mind. Without Renee at her side, she felt powerless, as if her armor had been stolen away from her body, and she was left, weaponless, before her foe.

She felt Tidus sigh, even though she didn't hear one. She could sense that Renee was before him, her head probably in his hands while she felt Tidus' arms moving to stroke her sleek coat. He was so close to her… it was unnerving… she wanted to escape and get herself back from wherever he'd whisked it away to. She knew that her expression was probably one of panic and apprehension… maybe even a little bit of fear. She tried to muster some sort of bravery, but all that came was a shiver down her spine. She drew her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around the jeans that covered her boots. _Stupid… that makes you look even more frightened,_ she thought.

"Listen," she heard Tidus say. His voice sent tremors down her skin, raising gooseflesh. She rubbed her arms frantically to try and make it disappear. "I'm not very good at apologizing… but… I was a jerk, earlier. Sorry."

That was not what she had expected. She didn't know what she had expected, but that was not it. She pushed her hair back away from her face, a little bit flustered. She licked her lips, biting on the lower one and taking a shallow breath.

"I'm not trying to frighten you, either."

That made her snap back into denial. "I'm not frightened of you." It was automatic, her involuntary response. Tidus chuckled; the goose-bumps remained on her arms.

"Alright… it must have just been my imagination, then." She felt the awkward silence between them, before Tidus spoke again. "So I see you've met Renee."

She knew that she should say something. "She's a sweetheart." Tidus chuckled again. This time, it didn't make her colder… it was… almost warm.

"I haven't seen her since she was a pup, two years ago. Dogs always amaze me with their ability to remember people and things."

Adara hesitantly wondered for a moment before gathering up some courage and speaking. "Kai mentioned that he hadn't seen you in two years… um-."

"What was I doing?"

"Yeah," she said, letting out a breath that was mixed with a relieved sigh.

"Well… I should probably be honest with you. I went out there to help get a small business in Los Angeles on its feet, along with a friend that I had met at a motor-cross tournament. Got tangled up in some shit out there about six months ago, and I ended up doing another job for some big-ass corporate manager who had hired me before. This time, it was a man who had been sleeping with his wife. It got a little tricky because the guy had connections with one of the stronger vampires out there, so I ended up having to kill both of them. The great thing about vampires, though, is that it's unlikely that anyone will come after you for getting rid of them. I got a scar out of the entire thing, and it pissed me off so much that I gave over my half of the business and headed back here. It was making a hell of a lot of money by then, so all was good for my friend."

"Where's your scar?" Adara asked – she was still nervous around Tidus, but conversation was coming more easily. She could remember showing her scars to her 'family' of messed-up teenagers, all of them sitting in a circle on the floor of the apartment in New York. Adara recalled being high and pulling off her shirt to show them all a scar on her back. They had forty-two scars between the six of them. She, Cameron, and Lily had had the most between them all. For some reason that she couldn't fathom, the face of the sixth figure was just a mixture of shadows in her mind. She was pulled back into reality when Tidus spoke.

"On my arm – you want to feel it?" he asked. She felt him shrug off a jacket, and then suddenly, his hands were at her right wrist, pulling her towards him so that they were facing each other. She was so shocked by the electric tremors that flew down her spine that she didn't notice that his fingers had guided hers to the inside of his forearm until her hand was already resting on the jagged skin tissue beneath them. She gasped as she brought both hands to his arm, running up the length of the healed wound until it disappeared under the folds of the rolled up sleeve of his Oxford.

"What happened?" she asked, running her fingers down back towards his wrist. His arm was rock-solid underneath her fingertips, reminding her that, at any moment, she could be at its mercy. She thought that she felt Tidus smile, but she wasn't sure of her assumption.

"The vampire pulled a knife on me." Adara narrowed her eyes, frowning.

"I thought that you're supposed to heal miraculously or something… a knife gave you a scar like this?"

"It was made by a witch – the blade was poisoned, so it hurt like bloody hell and left this for me to wear around a like a badge of my survival."

"You killed the bastard, right?" she asked. She wanted to slap herself for making it sound like she cared about him making it out of a fight alive. Tidus laughed, but, this time, she knew that the electric shocks running through her veins weren't from the sound.

"What do you think: I let him get another strike in? I snapped the bastard's neck." She smiled softly as she ran her fingertips up and down the scar once more before pulling away. Adara didn't know why she felt colder without his skin against hers.

"Hey you two lovebirds: shut-up for a while and listen to the end of the game!" Adara glanced up from looking at where her hands must have been in her lap and met flames of amber.

"Kai?"

"Don't forget me either," Kate shouted above the din that was suddenly engulfing the pub. "I'm the most devoted Pats fan there is!"

"Kate, you have no idea what you're talking about," Kai said loudly. Adara could faintly hear Tidus laughing in the uproar that was engulfing the pub.

"Wait," Adara shouted in Kai's direction. "Who the hell is playing?"

"Pre-season game, it's New England against the Giants – the entire pub is split in half." Adara pushed herself up from the ground and wobbled for a moment: her left foot had fallen asleep. Ignoring it, she shouted at Kai.

"Take me to the TV!"

"He's already absorbed in watching it. C'mon." She felt a warm arm take hers, and, immediately, she knew that it was Tidus shoving his way through a crowd of people, as she stumbled clumsily behind him, and pulling her up into his lap as he sat on a barstool. The volume on the TV was turned up so that it was an ear-shattering commotion -the announcer's voice wasmanaging to beat the chaotic clamor in the pub. Her entire nervousness around the shadow-eyed vampire disappeared as she lost herself to the game. It didn't even strike her as odd that she was sitting in his lap, his arms around her waist.

"The Giants have possession, and New England's three points behind; they know that they've only got two minutes to get an interception and score a touchdown to win this game. It may only be pre-season, but who doesn't want to win a game as fierce as this?"

"Oh, shut-up," Adara grumbled. "Talk about the game; I want to know what's going on." She heard a couple of men shout at something, but she didn't know what was happening. "God_damn_ it!" she growled, hardly noticing Tidus' hands around her waist, keeping her from falling out of his lap. "What's going on," she shouted over the din at him.

"Well… the Giants are playing slow and they're just holding the ball, heading towards – oh my god!" A unified shout nearly startled her out of her skin.

"Interception!" the announcer shouted. She turned her face back towards the noise, screaming her lungs out.

"Run your bloody feet off you bastard!" she shouted, even though she didn't know who had taken the ball.

"Five yards, he's reaching the thirty-yard line without any trouble so far; oh my god, I think this N.E. rookie's going to get it! What's his name?"

"Is he going to get it?" Adara shouted. Tidus was leaning forward, shouting in her ear so loudly that all she could manage to hear were a couple of words.

"Run – fucking – bloody – goddamn run you bastard!"

"Go, go, go you idiot!" she joined, shouting with the chorus of shouts. "You bloody fucking bastard go – run!"

Her soul flew as if she were high again as the pub erupted in even louder shouts and screams. "He got it!" she heard Tidus yell faintly over the crowd in her ear. She turned around in his lap and threw her arms around his neck, screaming her head off. She suddenly was grabbed from behind, and, before she knew it, she was being spun around in dizzying circles with Kate screaming next to her. Adara didn't care who it was spinning her around – his arm was clamped around her waist securely. She threw her arms in the air and screamed with glee, forgetting everything and just reveling in the glory that her team shared with her.

Eventually, as if in slow motion she found herself set down on the ground, dizzy and spinning. Kate was laughing next to her, and then she was suddenly swept up in a bear-like hug and kissed harshly on the lips. She tried to shove whoever it was off, but she caught a flash of amber and suddenly knew that it was only Kai. She grinned like a lunatic and spun around on her feet when Kai set her down, only to be picked up again and spun in the air, her arms slung around the neck of… she pondered for a moment, trying to find their eyes… she couldn't see any color. "Did you see that? Oh my god, he was flying!" Kate screamed behind her.

"They did it!" Tidus shouted. She grinned, forgetting her discomfort around him.

"They always do! I love them!" she screamed, latching her legs around his waist as he spun them around at an impossible speed. She felt as if she should be slipping away from him, but his hands held her solidly against him, laughing; she could feel the smile radiating from him.

Suddenly they were both picked up in the air, their spinning coming to an abrupt end. "Did you see that?" Kai shouted at them, hugging them both against him, Adara still wrapped in Tidus' arms, who was, in turn, being nearly throttled by Kai's incredibly strong arms.

"Well, no I didn't, but it doesn't matter," Adara shouted at him, laughing. "They still won!" She threw her head back and shook out her hair as if she were on stage at Corruptela again and dancing for the lonely men of New York. She knew what she looked like when she tossed her hair over her shoulder: sultry and cat-like, screaming silently that no one would ever get better sex from any woman.

"I'm flying out to wherever they were playing and making love to that rookie tonight!" Kate shouted next to them. Kai soon set them down, probably to spin Kate around some more. Tidus' arms remained around Adara for a moment longer than they probably should have. She tilted her head up and felt him looking down at her.

"I thought that you were from New York - what's with rooting against the Giants?" She let the wicked smile dance across her lips - she knew that her eyes were sparkling with glee. Cameron always told people that she wasn't addicted to smack - she was addicted to New England football.

"I may be from New York, but I know who the best football players in the country are."

_I love women who love football, especially New England football._

Suddenly, she felt soft, yet strong, lips pressed against hers, arms still wrapped around her, supporting her as she suddenly lost control of her entire body. Her knees turned into jelly, but she didn't register the feeling. All she cared about was the feeling of complete bliss in a clash of lip, tongue, and football-induced passion.

She didn't realize that, when Tidus started to pull away from her, she reached up and, in less than an instant, brought his mouth back to her own, her mind lost to everything else in the world but that feeling of his lips on hers.

* * *

**FYI: Incase any of you have ever seen Finding Neverland, Katelooks just like Sylvia Davies. Kate Winslet... yeah... I named Kate after my favorite actress. Or, I know that all of you have seen Titanic - just imagine Rose with blonde hair and brown eyes.**

**Sooo... that was a pretty long chapter. I think I deserve some major congrats on this one. Oh, and the game - I don't remember the date of the Pats pre-season game against the Giants, but this is a fanfic, so forgive me if I'm wrong. I want to see some comments on all of the stuff that I put in there - tell me what you think was important. I'm not updating until someone other than B2W finds out what's really unique about Tidus.

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****_Review Responses:_**

_Animals are my LIFE: _Thanks! Hope you liked Ch. XII.

_Sonora the Free:_ You have to ASK! Of course I'll listen to your music, even if you never get as high in the charts as Coldplay. Send me a demo tape, anything! Ha-ha... yeah, my friend does that with me all the time, telling me that sidewalks can't fuck, and books can't fuck... anything that I use that word to describe. Good - I love to make people laugh. I think that the accupuncture thing in here is funny, but that may just be me. I love red-heads - Kate Winslet is beautiful in Titanic... I wish I could have red hair, but at least I'm not blonde. Ha-ha... hope you liked Ch. XII.

_Fk306 animelover:_ Wow... you're name - I can't believe you even put that much thought into it. Mine's from the first fanfiction that I ever started writing - it was the first title I used for WISF (my other story). Anyways, hope you liked Ch. XII!

_Between2Worlds: _Oh, I love you, as I already told you in the email I just sent, but anyways... it's totally sweet that you love Kai and Renee. They are definiately two of my favorites in this story - Renee's based on my ideal dog, but I haven't found her yet. Oh, no problem in the dedication... I think you're going to have a lot more as the story progresses. Totally - Adara needed someone other than Kai to go to for comfort. As you read earlier in this chapter, it's completely foreign for Adara to feel safe, warm, and ... happy... but Renee is that comfort for her. No words needed, just love. Tidus is a complete case, as you've probably noticed. He doesn't hate Adara, just the fact that Evan's trying to get her back. (More will come in the future on why he doens't like vampires digging into their pasts. Uh oh... I'm teasing you again. Better stop.) Anyways, I hope this satisfies you for some time. Not sure when I'll be able to post another chapter, but keep emailing - I can always work on those. Je t'aime. - SP -

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	13. Chapter XIII Nancy Drew

**

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Guess who? I don't really know what to say at this point. I feel ridiculously… bad? So eight weeks have passed, and these seven pages, meant to be one of the most significant chapters of the first twenty of this story, has just… disappointed me. I wrote most of this at three in the morning on a Friday night, when SATURDAY CLASSES WERE CANCELED FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS YEAR! So, in honor of the extra 8 hours of sleep I got, this is going up the minute I get internet access in the dormitories.**

**The song that Adara sings is 'Black Balloon' by the Goo Goo Dolls. It's only part of the song, but it's one of my absolute favorites.

* * *

**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

_Wow…_ the thought in Adara's head… she couldn't tell if it was coming from Tidus or her own mind – she was so lost inside the kiss that she barely registered the feeling of his arm encircling her waist, his hand coming up to support the back of her neck. Her arms had voluntarily risen and wound themselves around his neck; she was standing on tiptoe just to be able to reach his shoulders.

A few hooting whistles punctured the atmosphere that was burning around them. She opened her eyes as they slowly pulled away from each other – her vision remained purely gray, but she could see swirls of silver and black in places that she'd never seen before when she looked into Tidus' eyes. She slowly felt a blush bloom in her cheeks, and she knew that she looked desperately puzzled.

Adara jumped when a large hand clapped her shoulder, warm laughter breathing onto the bare skin of her neck. "I told you, Adara!" She blushed even harder – somehow, her arms slid from Tidus' neck, and his hand from the top of her spine, but both of his arms wrapped protectively around her waist. She turned in Tidus' his hold, furious with the flush of her face.

"Oh, shut-up, Kai," she stated shortly. She could feel the laughter radiating from Kai along with a giggle or two from Kate.

"You two are adorable!" she exclaimed, her voice revealed her intoxicated state of mind. Tidus slowly pulled Adara back towards his body, holding her against him, her back to his front – she suppressed a shudder at the feel of his rock-hard abs against her lower-back.

"Kate, I think I might have to take you home," Kai said – Adara felt a movement in front of her. She imagined Kai picking Kate up off of her feet and holding her in his arms, tweaking her nose.

She noticed that, in the time that she'd spent kissing Tidus, the noise in the pub had softened dramatically. _Did we kiss for that long?_ She felt a warm chuckle behind her head, arms tightening around her waist in a sort of semi-hug.

_Funny, how you lose track of time, isn't it?_ She turned her head to the side, looking back in his direction.

"Just disconcerting." She could feel his grin emanating from behind, but, for some reason, she couldn't make herself angry. She _had_ been the one to bring him back from pulling away that first time….

She pulled away from Tidus' embrace, stepping out in front of him before turning around. She didn't know what to do in this situation. It seemed that in one moment she was terrified of him, the next furious, and after that kissing him as if he were -.

_No._

She took a step back.

"What?"

"You're not him," she stated. She felt a sudden flare of anger from where she knew that Tidus was. She didn't know how she felt it… it was… gone, but she _knew_ that she had felt it.

"Hey, Tidus – I'm going to close up and take Kate home," Kai said from a distance in the pub. Adara figured that he was standing behind the bar.

"Sure." She felt Kate stagger over towards where Tidus was, giggling slightly.

"You have to see Maddie soon," she said, slurring in a rather comical manner. Tidus chuckled slightly, and she felt him move, as if to give her a hug.

"I'll come over sometime Kate. Go home with Kai, okay?"

"Alright… I'll see you later. We missed you."

"Missed you too. See you later Kate. Night, Kai." She felt Tidus look at her, but she wasn't entirely sure. Flash of silver, yes. He was staring her in the eye. _C'mon, let's go._

"Bring Adara over here sometime – she'll get sick of being cooped up in the house all of the time." She looked over towards where Kai's voice came from and received a grin buried in golden flames. She returned it with a soft smile before tensing up as Tidus took her arm in his, their elbows linked. She stumbled as he began walking, but she didn't fall – his other arm came up to support her waist so quickly that she was positively sure that he was not human.

_You okay? _She shivered, trying to make her expression one that did not reflect the terror at having someone begin to replace her past.

When the cool air of the night engulfed her, it was like diving into the water of the Atlantic in summer… not warm, not freezing… semi-sweet. She took a deep breath as a tremor of temperature-induced ecstasy ran through the length of her spine. The absence of sunlight was familiar to her – she knew that the sun wasn't there… just because she knew the feeling of complete darkness and starry skies so well. She felt a sudden pang in her heart when she tilted her head towards the sky and didn't receive the reward of a black velvet curtain sprinkled with diamonds.

"Didn't the lights of the city block out the stars?" She turned towards Tidus' voice, staring into the swirls of silver and black that attacked her constant gray.

"Most of the time they did, but there were certain parts of the city that we used to go to so that we could see them. Sometimes they'd appear before all of the lights started turning on, and, around four in the morning, they were clearer."

They walked in silence for a moment, her heels clicking on the concrete – she could hear the faint, rusty sound of the hem of her jeans brushing the cement. It reminded her of water crashing on rocks. She suppressed another shiver as gooseflesh rose on her arms. Tidus stopped them both, pulling his arm out of hers. Remembering the instance earlier that day, she stepped towards him and made a grab for his form, but her hands collided with his chest, her fingers instinctively clawing up handfuls of his cotton Oxford.

"Wow… I didn't know you liked me _that _much," he joked. She pushed him away, releasing his shirt from her hands and taking a step back, crossing her arms. Her lower lip protruded outwards as she tried to scowl at him. Adara was acutely aware of how icy her hands were becoming, how the night air was shifting around her, as if it were an icebox trying to engulf her in a frozen imprisonment.

"I thought you were going to leave me out here again," she stated. She shifted her weight to her left leg. Tidus chuckled once more as she rubbed her forearms to try and ignite a flame of warmth in them.

"I'm not going to do that again."

"Am I supposed to believe you?" she asked. She felt him move, as if shrugging off his shirt, but she didn't want to think about him doing that.

"Yes." She let her mouth drop open for an instant before snapping it shut. She glared in his direction before she felt smooth leather at her bare elbow. "Here."

"What is this?" she asked. She uncrossed her arms and held her hands out.

"My jacket." She took it, perplexed.

"Why are you handing it to me?" She could practically feel Tidus rolling his eyes.

"Put it on." She glanced up at him, rubbing the silky leather beneath her fingertips. She paused, not exactly sure what to do. She heard him sign audibly, on the borderline of exasperation.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's-." She was interrupted by strong hands grasping her upper arms, turning her around. The jacket was snatched out of her hands, and her arms were shoved roughly into satiny sleeves before she could comprehend that her hands had become empty. After the jacket was jerked up to fall onto her shoulders, she turned around to face Tidus.

"Honestly, woman, do I have to do everything for you?" She looked up at his eyes, silver flashes like beams of moonlight bombarding her mind. The shoulders of the jacket were much too big for her; the lowest seam line on the body fell to her mid-thigh, while it was designed to reach the hips of the wearer. The heat from his body was retained within the fine stitching of the lining, seeping through her skin and warming her being like steaming hot chocolate warms in the dead of winter.

She knew that she should thank him. She contended with two sides of her conscious for a moment and then shook her head slightly. "Thanks."

Adara felt Tidus regard her for a moment, as if internally laughing. She crossed her arms over her chest, shifting her weight into a cynical stance. "What?" she asked, staring upwards until silver sparks dazzled her vision. He chuckled for a moment, sending quick spasms of small shivers down her spine.

"You're welcome."

A warm hand gently pulled hers out of her argumentative stances. Tidus' warm body moved closer to her own, his other arm wrapping protectively around her waist. "Let's go."

They walked together in silence for a few peaceful moments, both listening to the city at night surrounding them. Adara could practically hear the stars in the sky above her; she could sense the movement of cars on the street next to her. Her hand in Tidus', with his strong arm around her waist, comforted her as if he were holding her in his arms and cradling her like a child. She felt safe and perfectly content, blissfully at ease. It surprised her that it had never occurred to her to be frightened of Tidus because of his nature. She sighed quietly, letting her eyelids slide nearly shut.

She didn't count how many paces they walked together in this manner, but she was pulled out of her trance by an unfamiliar sound that tugged at the strings of her heart. She stopped, pulling away from Tidus as she listened to the night once more.

"What is it?" he asked. She didn't respond.

"There." She pushed his hand away from her elbow, walking slowly towards where the sound had come from. It was the rattle of what sounded like chains, the crumpling of old newspapers, and pitiful whining. Her heels clacked on the cement as she stepped forward. She could feel Tidus scanning her mind softly, like a breeze inside her thoughts.

Her outstretched hand met the solid corner of brick. She could feel a slight draft to her left, so she moved over, following the wall with her hands. Her fingertips met the corner of what she believed to be an alley. "Careful," Tidus muttered, his arm wrapping around her waist. "What do you want to go in here for?"

"What's making that sound?" she asked, pulling against him, hearing the slight splash of water as she stepped in shallow puddle.

"I don't know, but do we have to play Nancy Drew tonight? You're beat. You're making me tired." She suppressed a smile at his wit, but she continued forward, her hand on the wall next to her.

"Watch out," he said, pulling her closer towards the wall. "There's a dumpster there."

"Thanks," she said quietly, following the sound. This time it was louder than it had been out on the street. They were getting closer.

She stumbled over loose steel piping, the ring of the impact echoing slightly off of the walls surrounding them. "You're going to kill yourself someday if you aren't more careful." She rolled her eyes at him. A sudden, violent growl made her jump backwards, bumping into Tidus' torso. He caught her gently, pushing her behind him and standing in front of her in less than an instant.

"What is it?" she asked, shivering in the night air.

"A dog… German Shepherd by the looks of it. She's chained up and the rusty collar's cutting into her neck." She pushed her way to his side, stepping forward carefully, kicking aside more debris that she ran into.

"Hey baby," she said softly, but she was immediately returned with a vicious snap. Tidus jerked her backwards before she could register any sense of pain.

"We should go. She's protecting her pup. They both look thin and dehydrated. There's no way she'll let us get any closer." She shook her head at him.

"No. Just wait." She slipped down onto the ground next to him, pulling him with her. She leaned her head against his shoulder, sighing softly as a wave of exhaustion took over her body.

---

Tidus wrapped his arm around her waist, gently holding her small body against his. They sat in silence for a few moments before Adara unconsciously began singing softly to herself. He glanced at her through the corner of his eye. Her dark brown locks were spilling over her shoulder, blending in with the black leather of his jacket. He listened in silence.

_Baby's black balloon makes her fly  
I almost fell into that hole in your life  
And you're not thinking about tomorrow  
'Cause you were the same as me  
But on your knees_

_A thousand other boys could never reach you  
How could I have been the one  
I saw the world spin beneath you  
And scatter like ice from the spoon  
That was your womb_

_Comin' down the world turned over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I go on as you get colder  
Or are you someone's prayer_

She paused in her song as if she realized that she had been signing out loud. Tidus smiled softly to himself, sitting completely still. He wondered when she would discover that he didn't breathe. Oh, he could, of course, and he usually did out of habit, but it wasn't necessary for him to do so.

Adara stirred against his shoulder, straightening her spine. No further sounds had come from the female dog in front of them. He'd purposely made her appearance sound better than it was. The dog was nothing but skin and bones – she had obviously been abandoned. She was dehydrated, and scars criss-crossed her coat. The collar at her throat was rusted iron. Dried blood crusted the edges that peeked out from the wild angles of her fur, the iron digging into her flesh. He knew that she needed immediate medical attention.

What was worse, though, was her pup. The little dog slept against his mother's belly, his tiny ears flopping against his tiny head. He was pitifully undersized, small enough to fit in a lady's handbag. He was off of the teat, obviously, since his mother was no longer producing milk, but there was no food around the pair of German Shepherds, no bowls even to catch rainwater. He felt Adara move next to him, reaching her hand out towards the female.

"Hey darling…," she whispered. He started to grab her arm to pull her away from the dog, but she startled him by stretching her nose out towards Adara's open palm. The young woman at his side moved onto her knees, crawling forward, closer to the dog as she slowly reached out to caress the Shepherd's head. A soft whining came from her throat as Adara ran her hands gently over her fur. "Oh, baby…," she said, as her fingertips reached the iron collar.

"Be careful, Adara," he warned. She turned towards him, her dark sapphire eyes flashing in the meager moonlight that sifted down into the alley.

"Help me unclasp this." He regarded her for a moment before moving himself further, gently opening his palms for the female to inspect with her cool, wet nose. The rattling of chains as she moved threatened to bring back unwanted memories. He shoved them away as he inspected the collar. The clasp was locked with a rust padlock. It reminded him of the shackles used to chain up slaves back when he was still a human in Athens. He pushed Adara's hands away from the dog's head as he fiddled with it, trying to break the iron without jerking the dog's neck around. After working for a moment or two, he broke it open, and gently pulled the collar open. The hinge broke off with a snap of metal, and the irritated scabs broke open. Blood leaked onto his fingertips, but the dog hadn't made a move. She shook once, and pulled herself up to stand. Her pup lay asleep, but he stirred slightly, whining with hunger. She bent her head, licking his ears as blood dripped onto the cement.

"We need to get her to a vet, the pup too." Adara reached up towards the mother, who had begun licking Adara's face gently. She giggled slightly, but gasped when she felt the warm blood covering her hands. "C'mon," he said, pulling her up to a standing position. He looked at the mother dog, establishing eye contact. _Follow._ He gently picked up the pup, cradling the tiny creature in his arms. His breathing was shallow, and his fur was barely enough to keep him warm in the cool fall nights of New England.

"Tidus?" He turned, realizing that he had started walking out of the alley. Adara was glancing around frantically.

"Over here. Come on," he said. She found his eyes and trotted over quickly, her hand outstretched as she slowed down, stopping, her fingertips brushing the hem of his Oxford. "Here, take the pup." He slipped the small dog into her arms. She lifted her arms to bring the puppy to her face, rubbing her nose in his soft fur.

"He's so small," she whispered.

"He's extremely malnourished. Here," he said, his arm touching hers softly. He reached down, wrapping his fingers in the coat of the female dog. "Just trust me, okay?"

Tidus quickly transported them to the animal hospital that he and Kai had gone to when the vampire had adopted Renee. The automatic doors slid open as he stepped inside with the dog following his footsteps. He tugged Adara after him as he went up to the reception desk were a sleepy-looking blonde yawned; she looked up at him. The blinding white fluorescent lights gave him an instant headache. He'd always hated hospitals.

"Can I help you?" The woman had clear blue eyes that matched her sky blue blouse perfectly. Her pristinely manicured nails stood stark against a clamor of pink, purple, and red on the cover of some celebrity magazine that she had snapped shut at his and Adara's appearance.

"We just found two abandoned dogs in an alley downtown. I think they need immediate medical attention, and probably some antibiotics. We'd like to take them with us though, if they get the okay to be released tonight."

"One minute please," she said quickly, standing and rushing through one of the white doors that led out of the waiting room. The only colors within it were those of the red and navy blue couches, along with the paintings scattered across the walls. The windows of the building looked out upon a street where humans walked quietly, cars sailing softly down the road, headlights illuminating the drunken couples staggering home to their apartments. Tidus turned his head, watching Adara cuddle the small pup, her head turned to the side as she brought his tiny nose to hers for an Eskimo kiss between woman and dog. A moment later, a veterinarian wearing a green medical suit came out of the same doors that the receptionist had disappeared through earlier. A stethoscope slung around his neck, he briskly walked over to the dogs. His brown hair was graying and balding, his glasses hiding fine wrinkles around his eyes. He had a kind look though, one that didn't make Tidus feel as if he were some sort of scientific specimen, as many other doctors did. Then again, it was probably because he wasn't a dog that the vet wasn't making him feel that way. He suppressed his chuckle.

"Well, what do we have here?" the veterinarian asked, bending down to inspect the bloody wounds around the dog's neck. His rubber gloves contrasted dramatically with the green sleeves of his jacket-like scrub. "Looks like this just needs bandaging up. It's probably infected, but some antibiotics will help this out. Maybe some stitches. We'll take them in the back. Are they strays?"

"Yeah. We found them tonight."

"Thanks for bringing them in. You can wait in the lobby if you want." As he reached to take the puppy out of Adara's arms, she pulled back.

"You'll take good care of them, right?" she asked. The vet smiled – Tidus noticed that he didn't realize that Adara was blind.

"Of course, honey. Don't worry about a thing."

---

_Don't worry about a thing…._ That sentence took her back to the streets of New York for a moment, before she'd been paralyzed by glowing red eyes, before she had lost the one person that she cared for most in the world.

When the vet's strong hands took the puppy from her arms, she gave him up easily, dazed by the shock of reality stealing her back. She heard soft soles pad on the tile floor, the female dog's nails clicking as she was led away. Tidus' arm sliding around her waist brought her completely back. She turned her head, looking up at him.

"Do you think they'll be alright?" she asked. Tidus' soft smile radiated gently in her direction.

"I'm sure they will be. C'mon. We can wait out here." He walked her over towards a cooler section of the room, probably close to a large window of sorts. His arm disappeared from her waist, and she felt him fall back with a sigh, the puff of leather indicating his collapse onto the couch. His hands at hers pulling her back had her half-sitting in his lap in an instant. She tried to slide off of his leg, but his arms wrapped around her body, holding her against him. She wanted to argue, but a severe wave of exhaustion overtook her body, and before she knew it, she was dozing on his shoulder, her head tipped back against him. "What time… is…?" she started to ask, but she never finished the question.

---

Tidus smiled softly to himself as Adara slept on his shoulder. The radio was playing a soft piano duet, and he was falling asleep with her. He glanced at the clock on the wall in front of him. It read: 12:57 am. He found himself falling into a trance, leaning his head towards hers, her locks brushing his cheekbones. He watched the clock change to 12:58 am, then to 12:59 am. He fell asleep before it reached 1:00 am.

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**Je suis… forget the French. I'm considering re-editing/reviewing each and every one of my previous chapters, since I'm finding mistakes all over the place as I reread DP. Plus, I think I'm going to rewrite that one early chapter that was in first-person instead of third-person. I'd suggest rereading everything at one point before Ch. XIV comes out. I'll put a note in the introduction of that chapter to reread stuff.**

**Oh… and here are all of the lyrics to 'Black Balloon.' Again, by the Goo Goo Dolls.**

_**Baby's black balloon makes her fly  
I almost fell into that hole in your life  
And you're not thinking about tomorrow  
'Cause you were the same as me  
But on your knees**_

_**A thousand other boys could never reach you  
How could I have been the one  
I saw the world spin beneath you  
And scatter like ice from the spoon  
That was your womb**_

_**Comin' down the world turned over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I go on as you get colder  
Or are you someone's prayer**_

_**You know the lies they always told you  
And the love you never knew  
What's the things they never showed you  
That swallowed the light from the sun  
Inside your room**_

_**Yeah...**_

_**Comin' down the world turned over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I go on as you get colder  
Or are you someone's prayer **_

And there's no time left for losin'  
When you stand they fall

Comin' down the world turned over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I go on as you get colder

All because I'm  
Comin' down the years turn over  
And angels fall without you there  
And I'll go and lead you home and  
All because I'm  
All because I'm  
And I'll become  
What you became to me

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_**Review Responses:**_

_Sonora the Free:_ Lol… Coldplay, Goo Goo Dolls, Panic at the Disco… you'll get there someday if you work hard. If you ever get to go to N.E., definitely go out onto the ocean. Plus, grab some lobster for $2 a pound. Those were the days… hope you liked Ch. XIII!

_Between2Worlds:_ So – finally – Ch. XIII. How long have we been waiting? Hope to get some sort of lengthy critique from you. School is the pits at the moment, so I need some sort of distraction.

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Here you are: fresh chapter. Hope you like it!

_Romancejunkie:_ Lol… glad you liked Ch. XII. Does 8 weeks count as soon?

_Jega:_ Merci beaucoup. Muchos gracias… I need to study Latin.

_bethany:_ Glad you like DP. Lol… the characteristics of vampires differ from author to author. There are those who write that vampires cannot feel a thing because they are dead, some have magical powers, some are all evil, some are dark angels, etc., etc. I'm not going to define what my vampires can do, or what they can't, but just make sure that you don't go into a vampire story with a stereotypical view of vampires before an author can establish his/her version of the creatures of the night.

_Fk306 animelover:_ 60 chapters? Wow… at this rate, I'll be ecstatic to get through 20. I do have 80 reviews, which means that we're drawing towards 100. Which means that I'm going to burst with joy soon, which then means that I'll probably post about 3 chapters within a week. Hope you find this soon – I don't want you to have to wait any longer because of my sluggishness at typing out chapters.

_Madam Jinx: _I'm glad I surprised you – I didn't think that it was very… un-obvious, but, then again, I've had this planned since… about 15 months ago, so it's no surprise to me. Renee is a great character/dog. I love her to the uber extreme. Football… lol, obviously, you do not know that I am a HUGE Patriots fan. I needed some sort of event that would allow Adara to relax more around Tidus than she normally would and get swept up in the moment and be a little more… vulnerable? Basically, I wanted to put in my passion for my home team and favorite guy's sport along with giving Tidus and Adara a reason to put aside their discomforts and just feel the ecstasy of an underdog win. Hope you liked Ch. XIII!

_Every Heart Bleeds:_ 'Oh my gish'? That's one that I haven't heard before… lol. Ah! I'm so glad that someone has finally caught onto this. Do you think that Adara would react very well if she was forced to act like a slave? Foreshadowing: what would happen if she were put into a real slave-like environment with a strict master? Oh, oh, oh… what now?

_Dreamfantasy13:_ Merci beaucoup!

_escapefromreality:_ Lol… I love them all too. Don't we all have that addiction of the supernatural? Ah, I know I haven't updated in a long time. School has been overwhelming lately, especially with finals next week. Lol… I guess I'm just your drug then. Pay me, baby, pay me, and you'll get your fix. Nah… I'm not a dealer. So, hope you liked Ch. XIII!

_angelofshadows:_ Thanks tres muchos. Lol… checking everyday? You must be very angry with me for taking so long. Hope you liked Ch. XIII.

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	14. Chapter XIV Resisting Temptation

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A/N: Finished, finished, finished. The first chapter of summer – je l'aime. Pas très long, but probably enough to keep you satisfied for about another week, if not less. Has anyone besides B2W realized that our anniversary is coming up soon? And that we're nearing 100 reviews? Prepare for some major chapter-exportation.

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****_Boston, Massachusetts_**

Tidus' eyes slid open to focus slowly on the round clock above the receptionist's desk. Her blonde hair spilled over her arms, looking like a golden halo of corn silk. He chuckled softly to himself when he saw what her face was pressed up against, her blush-brushed cheek swelling against shining paper. She had fallen asleep on a picture of Brad Pitt in her celebrity magazine.

He turned his head to glance out the window of the waiting room, desperately wishing for a paper bag to pull over his head to cut the intense glare of the white lights bouncing off of the even brighter white walls of the interior of the building. Outside, the usual trickle of cars slid on the road through stoplights and intersections. The early morning crowd wasn't nearly as dense as the afternoon commuters. He screwed up his eyelids, bringing his gaze back to the clock on the wall. The straight black hands of the clock were infuriating in their conformity. 4:31 am. He groaned out loud, straightening his back.

The cracking vertebrae brought him back into the world of sound. Adara's hushed breath against his chest was a calming lullaby, harmonizing with the gentle rush of traffic outside and the gentle ticking of the clock. Like a heartbeat… why was he so taunted with that cadence? He glanced down at the button on his Oxford that lay over his silent heart.

He let out a breath and felt his lungs deflate. Proceeding to stare at his chest, he narrowed his eyes, wondering vaguely at why he was cursed to not feel the need to fill his lungs with oxygen. About ten minutes passed before he grew sick of trying to make his body human once more. He let his eyes slide over towards his left and smiled softly to see Adara's curling locks of hair rising and falling with her breath. Her lashes brushed his Oxford as her eyes darted in her sleep underneath her eyelids. The sensation of the contact through his shirt was of such an utter delicacy that he assured himself that it was worth battling her addiction and her disease just for that feeling.

Tidus softly squeezed her shoulder against himself, bending his head to plant a soft kiss upon the top of her head. He inhaled for the hell of it and grinning as Avery's favorite perfume threatened to make him sneeze. _You would, wouldn't you?_ He could feel Avery stir in her sleep and sit up in her bed, rubbing her eyes. She glared into the darkness of her room.

_Of course. It's to remind you that most normal people are asleep at this godforsaken hour of the morning. What the hell are you doing? You shouldn't have felt the need to rent a hotel room for my sake. That's why I had separate wings built in this house._

_Contrary to popular belief, I don't always have sex with a girl that strikes my fancy within twenty-four hours of meeting her._

_You could have fooled me. Remind me again of why you've woken me up?_

_You gave her your perfume that you know makes me sneeze._

_Okay – sorry. It was completely accidental._

_Right._

_So it wasn't. I don't think that this justifies you waking me up at four in the morning. Sing me a lullaby so I can fall asleep again._

_Magic words?_

_Please?_

_I don't really feel like singing you to sleep. Put on a disc of Iron and Wine if you're that desperate. Night, Avery._

_More like morning._

Tidus appeared to grin at nothing in particular as he rested his nose against Adara's head. He kissed her hair once more before pushing into her dream.

---

_Adara stood at a simple, cheap card table. The room was completely white, the floors, walls, and ceiling. There was not a door. Everything was laid out in front of her. The chords of 'Black Balloon' were playing mysteriously without a sound system._

_**Baby's black balloon makes her fly**_

_**I almost fell into that hole in your life**_

_**'Cause you're not thinkin' about tomorrow**_

_**'Cause you were the same as me**_

_**But on your knees**_

_She reached out towards the needle and fingered it for a second before roughly pulling away. She wasn't supposed to touch it – she didn't even hear her veins screaming for their favorite poison._

_**Coming down the world turned over**_

_**And angels fall without you there**_

_**And I go on as you get colder**_

_**Or are you someone's prayer**_

_She listened to the words of the song in silence, lifting her head as if the music were coming from an unseen sky above. As she took in the lyrics, she suddenly realized that the voice was not John's, nor Evan's._

_It was Tidus who was singing to her._

_She spun around, turning from her table that had more heroin than she could ever want._

"_You," she breathed._

"_Me."_

_She closed her eyes and squeezed her eyelids, shaking her head slightly. Opening them again, he was still there in front of her._

"_I can see you," she said, in an almost questioning tone._

"_You can? That's good, I suppose."_

"_Is this really what you look like?" He opened his arms and looked at himself._

"_Well… if you're seeing what I'm seeing, yes. Unless my head's suddenly turned into a mutant green imitation of the Hulk, then, yes, this is what I look like." He watched her stare at him for what seemed forever until he finally grew slightly impatient._

"_What? Do I have tentacles shooting out of my back that I am not aware of?" She shook her head, an almost bewildered expression upon her face. Her wide midnight blue eyes reminded him of the water in Cape Cod that tempted him to jump into their depths._

"_No…."_

"_Then what is it?"_

"_You're beautiful."_

_That surprised him. He almost took a step back, but he was leaning against one of the white walls, so he had nowhere to go._

"_Great. So now I'm being described with adjectives that usually refer to the likes of women and Orlando Bloom."_

_"No… you're much better looking than him. And I don't call women beautiful… normally, at least. Never mind… would you prefer 'handsome'? It's such a motherly adjective."_

"_Thank you, I suppose, then." He paused and looked around the room once more, letting his eyes rest behind Adara's silhouette._

"_I should have known it from kissing you," she whispered. Tidus glanced at her._

"_Pardon?" She looked up at him, and she tried to hide a blooming blush on her pale cheeks. She turned her gaze the wall at his left._

"_Should have known…."_

"_Okay?" He paused once more before he realized that she had not touched a single thing on the table. It seemed that she was even unaware of it, her back turned to what had once been her obsession._

"_Why are you dreaming of a table full of smack and me singing 'Black Balloon'?" he asked abruptly. She looked up at him, meeting his gaze and loosing herself to their silent connection._

"_I don't know." He walked over to the side of the table next to hers, looking down at what lay on worn plastic covering of the card table. He had seen her touch the needle and then recoil as if it were burning hot._

"_Do you want it?" She was silent for a moment, and then she spoke, her ruby red lips curving over her words._

"_No. I don't understand it. I don't understand…." She looked up at him, her eyes rising from their resting place on the table. "This has something to do with you, doesn't it?" She spoke the words as if she were accusing him of high treason._

"_I'm honestly not controlling your dreams. Too much effort…on top of everything else." She questioned him with her gaze. "Basically, I'm the reason why you're not writhing on the floor in agony and screaming. And the fact that you're not suffering from illness on top of withdrawal."_

"_I was right then."_

"_You knew?" She glared at him for a moment before sighing and crossing her arms, leaning against the table – the legs bent slightly as she did so._

"_Of course I did. What junkie wouldn't wonder why she wasn't having withdrawal symptoms after five days of being clean?" She sighed once more, staring up at the ceiling of the room that suddenly had glow-in-the-dark stars stuck all over it. "Why did you come in?" she asked him, without making eye contact._

"_I was bored. I wanted to see what you had been up to for these past four hours."_

"_I've been here, just here… barely moved at all. Just watching it." She turned around and looked at the smack that lay on the table before her._

"_You haven't taken any of it?"_

"_No. Is that a good thing?"_

"_You tell me."_

"_I guess it is." Adara looked at him once more and then smiled. "Can you wake me up now, please?" Tidus raised an eyebrow at her, making her smile radiate further. "I just can't stand being in a presence as dazzling as yours and knowing that you're prettier than me."_

"_You make me sound gay."_

"_Are you?"_

"_No."_

"_I don't believe you." He tried to hate the teasing grin upon her enticing lips, but it was impossible to even ignite one spark of dislike._

"_I'm waking you up. Now."_

_---_

Tidus opened his eyes, looking down at Adara's head pressed against his chest. The warmth from her cheek was comforting in the same way that Maddie's was when she fell asleep against him when watching movies in his house. He moved his hand that lay sprawled over to the seat of the couch next to him, gently grasping her fine jaw line and tilting her face towards his. Bending his head towards her lips, he kissed her softly.

---

Adara woke to the sensation of lips kissing hers, and, immediately, she knew who it was that was kissing her. Her eyes flew open, the regular fog of gray encircling her mind. She allowed Tidus to kiss her for one moment more, tempting her to never make him stop, but she roughly pulled back when her lips instinctively parted. She sat up, sliding off of his leg and pushing his arms off of her.

"You aren't supposed to kiss me," she stated bluntly, massaging her neck as if he had been choking her, even though she knew perfectly well that his touch had been as soft as a butterfly's kiss. She could feel Tidus grin at her, his eyes meeting hers in an onslaught of clashing silver, swirls of blacks, and endless depths of gray.

"I'm not?" His voice was the same as it had been in her dream, mystical and remarkably similar to the sound of water rushing over rocks.

"No. Plus, I don't think that the receptionist wanted to see something like that," she said, looking over towards where she remembered the desk being, but she was rewarded with just her usual gray curtain of blindness.

"Is she here?" Tidus asked her. She didn't turn her head towards him, concentrating on the feeling of the room. Hushed breath… no eye color, but her presence was there, along with the faint traces of her perfume that had the essence of summer entwined in its scent.

"Yes. She's asleep." Adara was utterly sure of her conclusion, surprising even herself. She sensed Tidus' grin widening, making her want to grin back and frown at him at the same time. She ignored both of the urges and stood up, looking down at him and hating the smirk that she could see in the lively, teasing movements of silver in her vision. She was about to inquire as to where the dogs were, but the opening of a door caught her attention.

"Wow… I'm surprised that you both aren't sleeping at this point." The veterinarian's voice was unlawfully cheerful for the given hour in the morning.

"How are they doing?" Tidus asked. Adara felt him stand behind her and slip and arm around her waist, walking forward with her in tow. She shoved him off and walked next to him without the physical contact. She slid onto her knees to rub the female's head when she felt a warm tongue licking her fingertips. Smiling, she ran her hands over her soft coat.

"Well, the pup is just malnourished and dehydrated. We gave him an IV with some nutrients, etcetera, and he seems to be doing well. He just needs to be fed and given a lot of TLC. His mom's doing well considering her condition, but really, the all that the wound needed was some cleaning up and a few stitches. They should fall out all on their own in two weeks. I assume that you'll take them to the shelter downtown?"

Adara listened to Tidus reassure the vet that the dogs would be taken to the shelter for adoption. She smiled to herself when he fell under Tidus' assuring spell. When a cool, tiny wet nose pressed itself against her wrist, she couldn't help but melt when the tiny puppy clambered up into her lap. Pressing her nose against his, she grinned when she received a wet kiss on her chin. She looked into warm, dark chocolate eyes and knew that she had sold her soul to her newest acquaintance.

"You two go home and get some sleep now," she heard the veterinarian say kindly. She stood with the puppy in her arms, smiling at him. When Tidus took her upper arm in his hand to lead her out the door and into the cool morning air, she didn't resist until they were outside. Pulling away from him, she grinned softly.

"You're terrible, you know?" she said. "Hypnotizing an innocent veterinarian…." She could sense Tidus' smile before the female dog bumped her head against the back of Adara's right knee. She turned, looking down in her direction and was met with a clash of dark brown eyes that resembled the puppy's.

"I suppose." She regarded him for a moment before asking the question that had been nagging at her mind since she had found the two dogs.

"Can we keep them?" she asked.

"What are the magic words?" he teased.

"I am not resorting to that." She felt him look at her, and she knew that he could stand there for all eternity until she gave in. "Fine. Please?" she asked, imitating a whining child. She felt the grin that she got from that.

"Sure. We have to name them though." Adara looked at Tidus, meeting his silver gaze and cocking her head to the side.

"You name one."

"You can name them both. You found them." She accepted and looked at both of the dogs in turn. She cuddled the puppy towards her face, nuzzling his soft forehead.

"You can be Otis," she said, kissing the tiny puppy on his nose.

"How is he acute or wealthy?" Tidus asked her. She rolled her eyes once and planted another kiss on Otis' forehead.

"He reminds me of German chocolate." She turned her gaze down towards the female dog, feeling her fur brush against her jeans as she moved about. "And you… you can be… Casey." She felt Tidus shake his head at her and then shifted Otis in her arms, managing to put on hand on her hip. "What?" she asked.

"You have the strangest naming system ever."

"Thank you. Can we go home now? I'm aching for a bed." She didn't realize her word choice until she had listened to his silence for five seconds. She rolled her eyes and turned up her nose, beginning to stalk off with Casey trailing in her footsteps, but Tidus' hand grabbing her arm halted her in her tracks.

"Caught you," he teased. She stared at him for a moment before he grinned once more. "And home's not in that direction anyways. But it doesn't matter because we're getting there my way."

© Silver Phoenix 117, June 2006

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**_Review Responses:_**

_Sonora Fave:_ You play guitar, am I correct? I'm going to try and convince my mother to allow me to begin lessons this summer, but I'll be doing acoustic guitar first. I also need to take up piano lessons again. I'm beginning to write some songs, so we'll see how that goes. Oh my god, I could never pull off being vegetarian. I'd miss meat way too much. No seafood even for you? I'd die. I'm craving sushi as it is right now, so I think I might convince my dad to grab me some at Heinen's. Classic romance plot starter – walking dogs in the park. AU? Sorry, but I have no idea what this stands for, so I'm completely at a loss here. Lol… finals/exams suck. A lot. Thank god mine are over… I was a wreck that week, with moving out, no AC, and exams. Painful… but it's summer now. Hope you liked Ch. XIV!

_Between2Worlds:_ Lol… your spasm in your last review continues to make me laugh. I think, before I start Ch. XV (Hey, only five more until XX!) that I'll work on editing. There are SO many mistakes… ugh… it grosses me out. See, you only waited about three weeks for this one. Next chapter should be coming out in less than a week or so. Listening to 'St. Elmo's Fire'. Good song, again. I have to keep in mind to always tell you what song I'm listening to at the moment when I type to you… lol. Hope you liked Ch. XIV!

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Merci beaucoup. Hope you liked Ch. XIV!

_Fk306 animelover:_ I have no idea as to how people can manage stories that long. It's taken me almost a year to get fifteen chapters up! I guess I just have a life that demands constant attention… sigh…. Hope you liked Ch. XIV!

_Dreamfantasy13:_ Lol! That's good! Fluff… always reminds me of Sesshoumaru from Inu-yasha and his crazy fans who call him Fluffy. Be patient, young grasshopper. I can't have two characters who met less than 24 hours ago having sex. That reminds me of way too many bad Quizilla stories. Hope you liked this one!

_Lightningwriter:_ You name is well chosen. Those reviews came very quickly. Lol… I like Ch. XII too. Goodie for me… at least I'm not the only one head over heels in love w/ Tidus. Wow! You think my stuff is good enough for publishing! This fanfic actually doesn't involve anything from AAR's works, so, honestly, I could publish this story for real one day after a LOT of editing. I can't say that I can agree with you on the 'perfect' thing, but thanks. Hope you liked Ch. XIV!

_Eternally-BlackRose-Yours:_ Lol… died…. Hope you didn't this time. Her mood… well, I can assure you, she's not PMSing. She's also a recovering junkie, and I guess that it's just kind've the way she is. Forgive the mood swings. Hope you liked Ch. XIV and that you haven't died!

_WinterNightWolf:_ Well, I'm done with school now! So I promise more updates than usual. A LOT more, especially because we're drawing upon our one-year anniversary and our 100 review landmark. Merci beaucoup and hope you liked Ch. XIV!

_Aubreygirl123:_ As I said with Lightingwriter, this 'fanfic' doesn't really relate to AAR's stuff, so I could technically publish this story w/ a lot of editing. We shall see…. Lol… I discovered Fictionpress after I'd discovered so yeah… that's why I'm here. Too lazy to change. Thanks for the link! I'll check it out as soon as I find time. Hope you liked Ch. XIV!

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	15. Chapter XV Tidus' Canine School

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A/N: So, at the moment we've reached 105 reviews. Isn't this exciting! So I have some important remarks for you. **

**1.) DP is moving, but not leaving fanfiction. More like, it's duplicating itself. A new, edited version of DP is going up on fictionpress. It is under the same title (Dark Phoenix), and it is under the same author name (Silver Phoenix 117). This site will continue to have the most recent chapters.**

**2.) Also, it has come to my attention (I've also been bluntly told.) that DP here is not following 'fanfiction'ness. It will, when I get some new characters in. So I would greatly appreciate it if no one would go to the authorities and tattle or anything about me not having any fanfictional characters yet. If worse comes to worst, (excluding being eliminated from fanfiction,I will write a sentence about Jaguar and Turquoise going to get coffee one day. And then it will cover fanfiction. And then I'll never have to write anything ever again on any of AAR's characters.**

**3.) Incase you haven't noticed yet, fictionpress is not a site for fanfiction. Therefore, I do not have to follow any stupid fanfiction rules, and, therefore, DP on will not be fanfictional. And DP on will probably be the foundations for a novel that I might publish one day. So hands off.**

**I am sorry for the lack of updating. Obviously, my parents thought that 'summer vacation' meant 'hit SP with all the work in the world before she goes back to school'. So yeah… updates will be posted when updates will be posted. I beg for your forgiveness.**

**Oh! And our one-year anniversary is coming up soon!

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_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

Adara glanced up towards the sky and felt the soft tendrils of warmth brushing the skin on her forearms. Otis' warm fur pressed against her top, mashing in an awkward manner. She smiled softly to herself, nearly proud to feel the first rays of sunlight peeking over whatever horizon was blocking most of its heat and light.

"Hey, let's go." She turned back towards her left, meeting the clash of silver and black in her mind. She left the small smile on her lips, despite the effort that it was taking to just remain standing. She glanced back towards the sunrise one last time, trying to absorb whatever traces of color she could grasp, but, as usual, all she was given was a backdrop of grays. She sighed once before Tidus' hand at her arm pulled her back. "Maybe you'll see it someday."

She winced internally and pulled away from him. "I don't need anymore false hope," she said softly. Taking a deep breath of cool morning air, she drifted back to New York in her mind. She knew that Tidus understood that she wasn't fully with him. "The AZT was bad enough. Just take it day by day… despite any handicaps. Push through pain, whatever. Beat that bastard's colt, even if you're a filly with a heavier jockey, and your cannon bone had fractured the year before." His loyal contact with her arm brought her back slowly, and she lifted her eyes to his, relishing in the understanding that she imagined she saw in the wild ensemble of blacks, grays, and silvers.

"You need sleep," he stated bluntly. She smiled delicately once more before she let Tidus take her by his side and lead her forward. She lost track of where her feet were falling, and she felt as if she were walking through a dream, despite the sensations that she felt of the real world. Otis wriggled in her arms as they ascended a stone step.

As Adara looked up, she felt a door being shut behind her and a vast cavity of space around her. She felt Tidus pull a squirming Otis from her arms as she heard a soft padding, as if slippers were descending stairs, and, sure enough, Avery's dark evergreen eyes captured her vision. Her sleepy gaze was apparent in the lazy swirls of greens and flecks of amber, and Adara listened to the faint sound of her yawn. "Bed," was the only word she heard. Avery's strong hand grasped her arm, and she found herself being led forward and carefully dragged up a flight of carpeted stairs. Glancing back, she felt Tidus wave her forward.

_See you later, I guess._

She found herself too exhausted to respond. Adara quickly lost track of exactly where she was going, but, once Avery opened a door, and gently pushed her inside, she immediately recognized the room that she had originally woken in that evening before. The carpet had the same feel beneath the soles of her boots, and the air even felt the same. Avery's hands were soon pulling off her top and tugging down her hair at the same time.

"Sorry I'm so quiet," she mumbled sleepily. Adara carefully placed her hand against the wooden door of the room and slowly unzipped her boots and pulled them off along with her socks. As Avery moved away from her, she heard her voice soften with the distance. "I'm not a morning person at all. Just…," she said, and suddenly she was right back next to Adara. "Put these on," she said, handing Adara a pair of what she discovered to be boxer pants and a cotton camisole. "I'm going back to bed. If you need anything, wake Tidus up or something…."

Adara smiled softly to herself when Avery disappeared from the room, the door opening and closing more silently than a hawk dives for its prey. She pulled off her jeans and slipped on the pants. She left them on the floor, walking slowly with her arms extended towards where she remembered the bed being. Three paces… four paces… six… seven… she hit the edge of the mattress and traced its edge with her fingertips until she found the head of the bed. Pulling the soft camisole over her head, she unhooked her bra and let it too find a home on the plush carpet beneath her bare toes.

She found the hem of the comforter and pulled it back, also detecting the sheets meticulously folded over underneath the velvety surface of the coverlet. Adara yawned widely as she crawled up onto the mattress, and she soon found herself slipping off into a dreamless sleep as her head hit the downy pillow tucked between her bare arms. Lying on her side with her eyes drifting shut, she gave herself one moment to congratulate herself on not killing herself while navigating through the room.

---

Tidus regarded the two German Shepherds in front of him. He sat cross-legged on the floor of the foyer, the hardwood glowing softly with a honeyed tinge in the gentle morning light. Casey's amber eyes were focused on his, but Otis was plodding around on his great paws and sniffing at the rug in the center of the room. Once his wet nose touched the fringe on its edges, he backed up a few paces, and then proceeded to sniff at it. He looked up at Tidus and Casey, cocking his head to the side as if he were terribly confused.

"How am I supposed to train you both in two hours flat?" he asked both canines. Neither said anything in response. He sighed. Otis tumbled over to him and began licking the toe of his shoe, his pink tongue rasping against the leather. Tidus had to hide a soft smile at the feeling against his foot. Casey stood from her seated position and then stretched her front legs out flat so that her shoulders nearly were touching the floor. She yawned, displaying rows of sharp, white teeth.

"Okay… method one begins." He picked up Otis by the scruff of his neck and placed him next to his mother, who had resumed sitting, poised and at attention. "You could learn a lesson from you mother, kid," he said to the puppy. He could have sworn that he saw a slight smirk in Casey's eyes at his remark to her pup. Otis looked up at his mother and then attempted to copy her position. Tidus shook his head at the comical expression on the young dog's features. "Alright then… looks like method one works." He pushed his hair out of his eyes and then looked each dog in the eyes.

"Rule number one," he said, "You listen to me, Adara, and Avery only. Oh, and Kai." He looked into Casey's eyes and planted an image of each individual in her mind, one by one. Once he was sure that she understood who he was talking about, he proceeded to do the same with Otis, going a little slower and in a more detailed manner.

"Okay… first… well, second… no shitting indoors." He looked each canine in the eye and implanted the rule in their minds. In the back of his mind, he wondered if Otis would understand any of what he was telling the pup. "Avery will take care of feeding you, so bug her when you're hungry. The backyard and the forest are yours, just stay within hearing range of the house."

He noticed a small rainbow by his bent knee and glanced up at the crystal chandelier. The sunlight breaking through the glass around the door was dancing off of the diamond-like material and acting as a prism, sending sparks of rainbows kissing certain surfaces in the room. He grinned at a particular rainbow on Casey's' left ear. "Casey, Adara is your number-one priority." Otis whined softly, making him smile softly. "Yours too, Otis. You can be her guard dog."

Tidus stood slowly, pushing himself off of the center oriental rug of the foyer. "Let's go out back," he told the dogs, not even bothering to wait for them to stand and trail in his footsteps. As he walked towards the back door, he sent a sliver of his attention up to the second floor of the house. It slipped under the crack of Adara's door and hung in the air above her bed. He smiled softly to himself when he saw her dreaming peacefully, her pale arms wrapped around her pillow, her ruby lips gently parted. He fought the urge to turn around and go upstairs to curl around her and sleep alongside her dreams, but he ignored the instinct.

Stepping out onto the dewy lawn, he breathed in the soft sigh of morning and tilted his head towards the sky as Casey took off, bolting towards the forest. He looked down at Otis – the puppy was hesitantly sniffing at the grass and then looking towards Tidus for approval to go explore. The vampire tossed his head towards where his mother had disappeared, and Otis took off like a shot to attempt to catch up with Casey.

Tidus leaned against the brickwork of the back of the house and slid off his shoes and socks, dumping them mercilessly into Avery's carefully tended gardens. He smirked as his toes dug into the soft earth beneath his feet, leaving the curling laces embedded amongst the crushed leaves of the dormant irises. Following the paw prints in the misty grass, he entered the forest behind the house, gently breathing in the sigh of the woods. The dogs were both barking, and he heard a faint splash.

_I guess they found the lake back there…._

As he pushed through ivy-encased tree limbs, he found himself on a slight ledge overlooking the ripple laden lake. Casey yipped in the echoing morning when she saw him there, her paws visibly paddling in the clear water. Tidus looked over to see Otis backing out of the water, his belly only half-wet in the cool water on the sandy shore. Grinning to himself, he started unbuttoning his wrinkled Oxford, carelessly tossing it in the brush behind him. Taking one step backwards, he pushed off of his own feet and leapt into the water below.

---

Adara had to congratulate herself. She had managed to find the bathroom without a single fatality of any of her limbs, and she had taken a shower without receiving any more scars. She grinned to herself as she relived the joy of finding a razorblade and shaving cream, not to mention the lotion on the bathroom counter after she had dried off.

Now she stood before the closet that Avery had introduced her to the previous evening. She took a relaxing breath and meditated for about a minute before she decided that she didn't have the patience for that in the morning. Plunging right on in, she found shelves stocked with t-shirts, jeans, socks, underwear, and even hand-knit woolen scarves. She moved to the right, and there she discovered clothing hung on plastic hangers. Digging through the items, she found a cotton sundress and immediately fell in love with the soft flowing garment. Sliding the spaghetti straps off of the hanger, she went back to the left side of the closet and rummaged around for lingerie. Dropping her towel, she pulled on underwear and a bra, much like the ones that she had worn the previous night.

She smiled when she slipped the dress over her head, spinning around with the skirt sifting with the movement. It was rather on the large side for her, but she was used to feeling small inside her clothing. The thrift stores that she and Whitney had pilfered through in New York had rarely tried to give her anything that fit correctly. She liked the feeling of freedom though in dresses like that, a little too big so the straps threatened to slide off of her shoulders, the neckline a little lower than it was meant to lie on her chest. Adara felt like a child in this dress, and she finally understood what she liked about it so much. She had been dancing to a song called 'Yellow' in the apartment one day in a dress much like this one. Cameron had come in at one point and danced with her, both understanding everything in spite of the fact that he was completely wasted and she was high beyond belief. The rubber tie hadn't even been tugged off of her upper arm before she had started dancing.

"Look how they shine for you," she sang softly to herself, turning on her bare feet. She didn't hear the doorknob turn and her door open as she did a hesitant pirouette, but the soft trace of a smile caused her to jerk her head and tumble in a heap onto the carpeted floor. Her wet hair hung over her shoulders, dampening her bare back.

"You know, I thought the sixties were four decades ago, but you… you bring it all back, don't you?" Avery's smile was evident in the relaxed atmosphere of the room, the chords of 'Yellow' dying in her mind. She stood awkwardly and held her arms out, attempting to focus on the gray abyss below her.

"I drew a line for you, oh, what a thing to do. And it was all yellow," she said, rocking her head and spinning once more. Avery's strong hands capturing hers, and Adara suddenly found herself dancing around her room, her sundress flowing around her bare legs. She felt as if she were back in the streets of New York, dancing in the puddles and the rain outside the loft, her bare feet splashing on the unforgiving, cracked asphalt. Avery's hands became the only things tying her into the present.

"Hold on," the older woman whispered. She was left alone for a moment, still trying to keep herself afloat in her ocean of gray. She smoothed the skirt of her dress, the waist coming down low over her hips. She raised her arms and stood on her tiptoes, performing a flawless arabesque as the first piano chords of 'Clocks' flowed into her mind. Avery's warm hands taking hers out of the position soon had them twirling and bending around the room.

She pulled away when the song ended. She felt Avery curtsy to her, so she did the same, mimicking what she believed her companion had done. Adara sighed. "Coldplay is God," Avery said, catching her breath softly.

"I know. They're like… the Beatles revived." Adara slid down onto the floor, her legs sprawled out, her arms in the position to make snow angels. "But more… I don't know. Whitney was obsessed with them. She had me break into some rich ass's house once to get his stereo system. Our secondhand boom box, evidently, wasn't worthy enough to play Coldplay." She smiled at the memory of her and the redhead plugging that stereo in for the first time and playing 'A Rush of Blood to the Head.'

"Are you hungry?" Avery asked. The hand offered to her invited her to take it and stand, so she did so. Adara's stomach growled appropriately, and both of the women giggled.

"I guess I am." She pushed her drying hair out of her face and held onto Avery's hand as she led her out of the room. The hallway's carpet was plush under her bare feet. She shivered slightly, but she liked the temperature of the house. It was cool enough to make it comfortable to curl up under blankets even in the summer.

She was led down a staircase that folded at a right angle, and Adara found herself on tiled floor. Avery released her hand, and the sound of a refrigerator opening from across the room encouraged Adara to step forward. "Could you describe it?" she asked.

Avery's smile was obvious in the feeling of the room. Adara thought that it felt like a kiss of sunshine, or that was what she compared the sensation to. "It's black and white, with red trimming. The tile is that classic chessboard style, and the walls are painted red. Above the stove, which is stainless steel, there's tiling that matches the floor." She heard Avery laugh to herself. "I'm not very good at this, am I?" she asked. Adara grinned.

"Not terribly so, but you aren't going to be the next Dan Brown, I don't believe." Avery laughed again, and Adara moved carefully towards the sound.

"Oh, there are some barstools right in front of you on the island. Just sit there." She rummaged through the fridge, glass bottles chiming. "Do you like strawberries?" she asked. Adara smiled.

"I _love_ strawberries. Especially dipped in chocolate, but I don't expect that for breakfast," she said, laughing. "Cameron and I used to pig out on them. One time, we painted each other with strawberry juice as if we were Indians. I swear that my fingers were pink for weeks." She listened to Avery place something on the granite countertop in front of her and the sharp snapping of a lid. "Can I help with anything?" she asked.

"It's pretty fast. Just let me slice these…." Adara let Avery slide into her world of cooking. She looked around the room, trying to see where there might be more light, due to a window. She heard the faint yipping of dogs and turned back to Avery.

"Casey and Otis?" she inquired. The sound of a knife hitting wood didn't miss a beat.

"You named them?" Avery asked.

"Yes."

"They're out there. I think that Tidus is with them, as he _crushed my garden plants_," she snarled. Adara had to force herself to hide her grin. "He's not coming back in until he apologizes… thoroughly. And volunteers to help me fix what he's damaged." The knife stopped, and Adara felt Avery move across the island. "I ran out before getting you and got some stuff at the pet store. Leashes… collars… and a couple of those rawhide bone things. It took me half an hour to decide what kind of food to get them, and that was only after discussing it with a sales clerk and getting conned into buying ridiculously priced stainless steel dishes. My afternoon will consist of attempting to install a doggie door on that door over there. It leads into the backyard." The clank of glass on granite in front of her startled Adara back into reality. "Here – it's fresh strawberries on vanilla yogurt, with raw oats and honey."

Adara reached out and found the glass bowl, swirling around its edge to find the metal spoon. Taking a hesitant taste, she couldn't help but let the smile grace her lips. "This is fabulous," she stated quickly before taking another bite. Avery's proud smile was evident.

"I am a pretty fabulous, cook, if I do say so myself." Adara felt her move up into the barstool next to her and heard the soft flipping pages of a magazine. "Tidus tends to forget that humans eat, and he still grumbles about the fortune that I spent on the refrigerator."

"I hadn't realized how hungry I was…," Adara mumbled, occupied with the food in front of her. Avery laughed and flipped another page. The kitchen sunk into a soft, quiet silence, with only the clinking of a spoon on glass and the whispers of magazine pages being turned.

"What was New York like?" Avery asked absentmindedly. Adara looked up and let her spoon slide down into her empty bowl. She rested her chin in her hand, her elbow propped on the granite countertop.

"New York is like its own universe," she said. "I can hardly believe that I'm not there… I've always been there. It's like my mother or something. I feel vulnerable, being not within her arms." She sighed, her mind sifting back to the loft. "For the past couple of years, I lived with five other people. Whitney, Darren, Lily, Cameron, and…," she faded off, puzzled. "Someone else…."

"Eh?" She felt the puzzlement radiating from Avery, but she focused on the blankness of her mind. _What happened?_

"Someone else," she stated. She decided to shrug off the lapse in memory. Turning her head back towards Avery's, she smiled softly. "Have you ever been to New York?" she asked.

"Nope." Adara sensed the bowl being taken out from in front of her. "You liked it?" Avery asked. Adara smiled and pushed her barstool back from the counter.

"It was wonderful." She slipped off of the high chair, her bare feet landing on the tile floor. The cool stone-like material sent a shiver running up her spine. "The dogs are outside, you said?" she inquired. Over the cool running of a faucet, Avery's voice sifted to her ears.

"Yeah. Go ahead out there. It's not too hard to navigate. I'm running errands soon. Do you have anything that you want?" she asked.

"Does Target have any contacts that oppose the effects of blindness?" she asked. Avery laughed.

"I doubt it… but," Adara could feel Avery's soft grin, "I'm way overdue for a shopping date. Want to come with me sometime soon?" Adara smiled, stepping forward with her hand out to rest on a glass pane. "That's the door there," Avery said.

"Thanks. I'd love to… go shopping, I mean." She found the handle of the door and twisted it down – the result was the door swinging open and a cool breeze ruffling the skirt of her dress.

"Great. Go out back then – see if those dogs have torn up my gardens."

Adara stepped cautiously out of the doorway, her right foot stepping on a stone step. She carefully let the door shut behind her and then simply stood, listening to her surroundings. Taking a hesitant downwards step, the damn cushion of grass greeted her bare feet, and she couldn't help but smile widely. She stepped away from the house and into the lawn, spreading her arms out in the air as if she were a stationary bird. Imagining that she really did have feathered wings, she stepped forward into the unknown of a vampire's backyard.

---

Tidus lifted his head from its resting point on the sandy shore of the lake. Next to him, his fur covered in sand, Otis dug a small hole with his overly large paws. Casey's head jerked upwards from where it lay on the sand, her ears perked. She grinned wolfishly and stood, shaking sand onto both Tidus and Otis before she bounded off into the trees in the direction of the house.

Tidus shook sand from his hair, watching the underbrush spring back into place after Casey had dashed through it. Next to him, Otis plopped down into his little hole, yawning. His eyes drooped sleepily, and the puppy started to lay his head down in the sand, but he quickly sat back up, thinking twice about his actions. He then proceeded to climb out of his hole, walking over to Tidus and scrambling up onto the vampire's bare chest. Tidus looked at Otis' closing eyes quizzically before he too let his head fall back into the sand. It seemed to him that the sun was singing both he and the pup a hypnotic lullaby. His eyes slowly shut as one of his hands crept up and rubbed Otis' ears before his body assumed complete motionlessness.

---

"Casey," Adara exclaimed as the German Shepherd danced in circles around her bare legs. She smiled, her hands reaching down to embrace the dog's ears, fingertips rubbing and kissing over her velvet fur. Casey halted behind her, nudging the backs of Adara's knees gently. Adara giggled and stepped forward as Casey moved to her side and led her further away from the house.

As the canine led her forward, she began to become familiar with sensing where Casey was. The dog walked about half a foot in front of her, her body brushing up against her legs every few paces. She could easily reach down and find Casey's back a little beneath her hipbone.

The grass beneath her feet slowly disappeared and turned into a crunching of leaves. The twigs that she stepped on every few moments made her slow down, placing her footsteps delicately onto the underbrush of the forest. She could smell the trees around them, and she reached out for a moment, her palm brushing over rough bark in a friendly caress. She smiled, breathing in the oxygen-rich air. It smelled like Central Park.

She followed Casey through the woods, noticing that they began to go up an incline. Leaves brushed her knees, and she quickly found herself pushing through underbrush and trying to keep her feet from being mauled at the same time. When she finally pushed out onto a small clearing, the space encouraged her to stretch. She spread her arms out once more, Casey's coat brushing her right leg. She could feel the space. Thinking that they were in a field, she stepped forward, unafraid.

Fearless until she realized that she never set foot on the ground.

---

A scream penetrated the pristine silence of the lake. Tidus jerked his head up, throwing his body into a sitting position. Otis' limp body tumbled off of his chest as he whined indignantly, falling into the sand after being rudely woken. Casey's distressed barks notified him to the slight cliff that he had jumped from earlier.

He caught a glimpse of Adara's fear-filled eyes before she disappeared in a wild splash.

---

Darkness… darker than her blindness, and no air… she had swallowed a lungful of water. The back of her mind commented softly to her conscious: _at least it doesn't taste like mud_. Everything that she had ever known about swimming was forgotten. She sank slowly… barely moving. It was cold. Colder that she would have expected, but, then again, it wasn't New York in mid-July.

_"You don't know how to swim?" Cameron asked her. She stood, a girl of ten years, at the edge of the pool. She was keenly aware of the fact that her toes were curling around the edge of the cement. The boy beneath her was treading water – his arms and legs looks like jellyfish tentacles, distorted in the light reflecting in the small ripples in the water._

_"No," she said. The sun was hot on her bare back. She didn't like the bikini that she had stolen from a thrift store downtown. It was too big… she didn't have the boobs to fill it in. Later, she had found out that she had been in the juniors' section instead of the kids'._

_"C'mon," Cameron said, flashing a brilliant smile. "I'll teach you – it's easy!"_

_She grinned and took a step back before diving into the water._

_Kick…_ the thought registered and unconsciously commanded the reflex. She moved upwards slightly, but her mind wasn't focused on the task. She could practically feel the sunlight on her back from that day. Her lungs were screaming for oxygen, but there wasn't any available. The pain was sharp, but she ignored it. This was nothing compared to withdrawal.

Her mind suddenly recognized a touch on her hand. It was actually more of a forceful grabbing, tugging her upwards where the water became warmer.

Air… she choked on the water in her system and gulped in what felt like gallons of oxygen. Strong hands supported her upper arms as her reflexes kicked in, and she began treading water. She spluttered for what seemed an eternity before she was finally able to stop coughing. Breathing roughly, she wiped the water out of her eyes, squeezing them shut before she threw her head back and her hair out of her face.

"What the hell were you thinking!" She thought that she sensed laces of panic in Tidus' voice, but she doubted her conclusion with the tight grip on her arms. She tried to yank herself away, but he wouldn't budge. She coughed again as she accidentally swallowed more water.

Managing to clear her throat, she resisted his hold once more, again resulting in fruitlessness. "Thinking?" she snapped, her voice raspy. "You expected me to think as I fell into nothing?" She gave one strong kick before jerking away. "Let go of me," she snarled.

"I think not." She noticed that her sundress was tangled uncomfortably around her legs, twisting up her kicks. "Do you even know how to swim?" he asked. She narrowed her eyes in a scowl.

"Of course I do!" she exclaimed, trying to jerk her arm away from his grasp. "Will you _please_ let go of me?" she demanded. Her arm was gently released. She propelled herself away from Tidus, taking a deep breath. It felt magnificent to have air fill her lungs again. She floated lightly on her back for a moment before she let her hips descend into the water, her legs following. Her arms moved along the surface, moving like gently gliding wings.

"Why didn't you swim up to the surface when you fell in?"

She glared in the direction of Tidus' voice before letting her ears take over her mind. She heard Otis' soft yips towards her right. Turning in the water, she propelled herself forward, dipping her head into the water and beginning the gentle rhythm of breaststroke.

_Duh – of course I know how to swim,_ she told herself. Everything was back now. She replayed Tidus' question in her mind. Why hadn't she just kicked her way to the surface?

Her toes brushed sand underneath the surface of the water, and she stumbled onto her knees, tripping over her hands. Clumsily standing, she struggled out of the water onto the short, her dress clinging to every inch of her body. Otis' warm tongue licked her left calf as she tumbled into the sand, the grains creeping into the spaces between her toes. It was warm.

The sunlight felt like golden rain on her face.

© Silver Phoenix 117, July 2006

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_**Review Responses:**_

_Lightningwriter: _Aw… thanks. I've never thought of my writing as 'cute' before… but yeah… thanks. The story might seem to be moving slowly, but please don't complain. It's all very important to what I'm leading up to, thought it might seem trivial. Things will happen – I promise. Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_Sonora Faye:_ I have a friend who is freaking brilliant at guitar. I worship guitarists, so consider yourself worshipped. Lol… have fun with that dog-attacking. Sounds fun. Oh, don't remind me of school. It's all over… for another two months. Oh well… might as well write now 'cause I won't have any in the fall. Sorry about the typo with your name – my mistake. Lol… they'll walk the dogs eventually, I suppose. We'll see what happens. And I'm glad you liked the dream. Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_Jega:_ I'm glad that you loved Ch. XIV! And here is your update!

_Betweeen2Worlds:_ Oh this was so long ago. I feel completely ashamed of myself. And I'm sure you're just giddy and happy that I've finally updated after all this time. So that gives me a little bit of time to devote entirely to WLL. Eh… I need to do Ch. II for We'll wait. Hope this quenched any starvation for vampires! Je t'aime.

_WinterNightWolf: _Oh, go ahead and put up the stories. Taking a leap of faith is always exhilarating. I did so too! Chained Freedom – incase you want to take a look. And MERCI BEAUCOUP on the grammar compliment. Finally someone said something: ) Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_Fk306 animelover:_ Aw… I'm glad that you liked Ch. XIV enough to say it's your favorite. I definitely liked it a lot more than some people seemed to have. I guess I need to come up with some new action or something, but, yes, I liked Ch. XIV too. Aw… I hope you smiled all throughout this one too!

_escapefromreality:_ Holy man! I wish that all of my reviewers were as enthusiastic as you are! Just incase this was a typo: it's Tidus, not Titus. Just F.Y.I on the conversations – every time it is a different speaker, the line will change. Hope you got it cleared up enough to comprehend. Aw… hope you had fun in Alaska. I'm sure you're back by now… seeing as how long it has taken me to finish this. Oh, don't apologize for the rambling. Sometimes it can be the most interesting review to read. : ) Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Thanks! Aw… I wish I had a dog. Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_snarphakat:_ Aw… thanks. It means a lot to me! And, yes – when I get more reviews, I work harder at updated more quickly. If everyone reviewed, I would be a very happy author, but let's just say for now, I'm glad that you've joined the reviewing crew for DP! And thanks for the suggestion! I'll check it out as soon as I have a break from writing! Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_Eternally-BlackRose-Yours:_ Oh… invite me to one of those bashes, sometime, okay? Lol… I'll make sure to keep updating. I'm not ready to give up my mortality. Well – this story is under General/Romance, so I do have to put some lovey-dovey stuff in here. But action is approaching. Give me a chapter or two. Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_Madam Jinx:_ Oh, how I have missed your name in the reviews! It always brings a smile to my face! I still love it, even though it has been forever since I first commented on it after your first review. I try to get songs that reflect well with the story. I actually have a Playlist half-developed for this story. I write to it, and I use the songs for inspiration. I'll make sure to post it one day when I finally think I've got it completed. Well… hopefully this chapter cleared up and lingering suspicions. Our Little Lady is not at all comfortable with Mr. Vampire. She was just tired last chapter. : ) Lol… if I ever unintentionally put something cliché in here, please, please, please, notify me and slap me well. I refuse to imitate those crappy fanfics and Quizilla stories. Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_twilight bells:_ Thank you very much! It's always nice to have a new opinion. Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_silver.moonlight.428:_ Thanks! Maybe in your next review, 'great' will turn into… something even more spectacular. : ) Hope you liked Ch. XV!

_DreamlndxFantasy:_ Lol… 'promising.' That's… good. Thanks! Adara's pretty resilient to pain, which is convenient for her. I do try to make sure that readers can understand how she feels. I've always been disappointed when I read novels that are bland, so I've turned around and tried to do my best to make everything pull you into the story and make it seem as if you're actually there. Tidus… lol… Tidus is an interesting vampire. Also, if you read above, this is actually turning into something more than just a fanfic story. Tidus is actually not a member of 'Midnight'. He just is well-connected with vampires in the 'slave'-trade. He basically just bought Adara on a whim, if that helps at all. Hope you liked Ch. XV, and, again, thanks for the review!

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	16. Chapter XVI Lost and Found

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A/N: So this is your one-year anniversary present! It's the longest chapter that I've ever written for you all! A little under eleven pages long by itself!**

**B2W: I'd like to personally thank you for being the person who has reviewed _every single_ chapter of DP. This is my hats off to you.**

**Everyone else (Even the silent people who don't review but have my on their favorites/notification lists – that's another hint: start reviewing!): Thank you very, very much. DP would not be this far if it were not for you.**

**Two more things:**

**1.) Seems as though hardly any of you read the A/N last time. DP is going up at Fiction Press. It is staying here. The most recent chapters will continue to be here. Edited chapters will be posted on Fiction Press. DP on Fiction Press will be entirely fictional – no fanfiction whatsoever. Go read Ch. XV if you want this is more detail.**

**2.) Between2Worlds and I have composed a story between ourselves that is also being posted on Fiction Press. Its title is Where Loyalties Lie, and, personally, I think it kicks some serious booty. Check it out! Our username is LesSoeursDuFaey.

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_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

Adara's eyes slid open, her eyelashes struggling to part. She raised her hand and brushed her eyelids with the back of it, rubbing away watery crust and squinting. Sand stuck to her cheeks and was embedded in her hair. She shook her head as she sat up, almost groaning at the sharp shooting pains in her back. She sat as a child would, her legs spread out, her hands in the scoop of the skirt of her dress. She yawned once, stretching her jaw.

It wasn't very warm anymore… cool, as if were evening.

She stumbled into an awkward stand, her feet spread apart, her arms out to try and keep her balance as her body tried to wake itself. Though it served no purpose, she looked all around her, even up towards the sky. She felt alone.

Panic struck her mind in a frenzy of wild emotion. Her throat tightened immediately. Spinning on her feet, she forcefully shoved all of her emotions into sensing any life around her.

Nothing.

She knew that her eyes followed a perfect 'deer-in-the-headlights' imitation, wide and like voids of dark sapphire. Her hair was dry. She was dry. She must have been sleeping for a while for it to have cooled off and for her to have dried out.

It suddenly dawned on her that she really was alone. Terror gripped her thoughts, and she fought away hysterical tears. Her fingertips felt so extraordinarily cold.

"_Tidus_!" The force of her scream nearly blew her over and back onto the sand. She felt ridiculously like a banshee. She'd bet that she looked like one too.

One rational train of thought glimmered for a moment.

_Tidus!_

---

Kai glanced up from his station behind the mahogany bar. The damp towel in his hand ceased all movement in the wineglass that he was drying as he replayed in his mind what he believed he had just heard. Kate popped a pretzel into her mouth in front of him, while Maddie giggled at something the man next to her had told her. Kai's eyes wandered to his smiling laugh for a moment. He felt as if he should know who this vampire was, but, for some reason, he couldn't place a name on him.

He had said that he was just dropping in to play some stuff that night.

It was fine with Kai, but he had a strange feeling about him. "Kate," he said, looking up into her honey-colored eyes. She flashed a warm smile at him. He refused to think about kissing her. "I need you to man the bar for a minute." She slid down out of her barstool and came around the counter. She grinned up at him and took the towel out of his hands.

"Sure. Do I get paid?" She asked, bumping her hip against his as she sauntered around him and reached over the bar to tweak Maddie's freckled nose. "I get to be Kai for a while, Maddie. What d'ya want to drink? Hot chocolate?" she asked her precious daughter.

Kai was already headed out the door as Maddie's response echoed to his ears.

"No, Mommy! Only the real Kai can make my hot chocolate!"

---

Adara spun to her left as she felt someone appear next to her. A warm touch on her hand confirmed who it was. "Kai!" she exclaimed, a sigh of relief escaping in his name.

"Did he just leave you here?" he asked. She glanced up towards the sky for a moment, but no color change rewarded the miniscule exertion of energy. Her hand was still held with Kai's, but she refused to let go. She shivered as the last remnants of panic slid out of her mind.

"I fell asleep," she said quietly. "I was alone when I woke up." She detested at how pathetic the statement made her sound. Kai's other hand reached up and dusted sand from her hair, falling over her shoulders.

"You slept until eight o'clock at night?" he asked. She narrowed her eyes at him. However, she couldn't hide a grin as she playfully slapped his arm.

"He kept me up until four this morning," she said. "We got dogs." Kai laughed at that and pulled her forward gently. She found herself becoming slightly claustrophobic for a split second, and then she discovered the aura of a city around her. "How do you _do_ that?" she asked incredulously.

"I'd rather not try to explain. C'mon," he said, tugging her into a walk. A left turn and a few paces later, Kai opened a door for her, and she was back in the pub. She grinned to herself for a moment and then turned back to him.

"Am I allowed to be barefoot in here?" she asked. Kai chuckled and pulled her to the bar, her feet slapping against the worn wooden floor. Sitting her in a barstool, she felt a familiar aura next to hers. She turned her head to her left and a little downwards, and she found herself in a sea of Caribbean blue and oceanic skies. "Maddie," she whispered. The little girl's smile radiated like the sun itself, brightening the warmth of the pub and sparking a flare of joy in Adara's heart.

"Wow! You remembered my name!" the little girl said. Her voice encouraged Adara to cry and hug the girl at the same time. It was so _pure_. "What's your name?" Maddie inquired. Adara couldn't help but smile into the abyss of clean blue surrounding her mind.

"I'm Adara," she said. She hesitantly held out her hand to the young child in front of her. A small, soft hand in hers gave her the sensation of soaring. Maddie shook her hand vigorously, giggling.

"It's very nice to meet you," Maddie stated. Adara felt the small girl's head move slightly. "Why don't you have any shoes on?" she asked. Adara bit her lower lip for a moment as her toes curled around the cool metal of the barstool.

"I went swimming," she said.

"Where?" Adara wondered if Maddie had inherited her sense of curiosity from Kate.

"In Tidus' lake." The blue of Maddie's eyes lit up, turning into an electric blue that nearly knocked Adara off of her seat.

"I love swimming there! One time, Tidus took me up onto this cliff thing, and then he tossed me over it into the water, like I bird! We had a blue inner tube that I climbed up in, and then we pretended that I was a ferry, and he was the motor." Adara had to bite back a smirk at imagining Tidus pushing a little inner tube around in the water.

She blinked softly, her lashes brushing her cheeks. Her arms were cold, despite the warmth of the pub. There was something strange here, familiar, yet different. She surveyed the area behind her, but she sensed nothing – only a void of blank grays greeted her eyes.

She did notice something odd though. There was no music pouring out of the speakers in the room. She turned back around in her barstool, feeling Maddie's eyes watching her every move.

"Kai?" she asked softly. The vampire's amber eyes slid into her vision promptly, filling her mind with a sunshine of honey, gold, and flecks of chocolate.

"Hm?"

"Where's Tidus?" There… the question… out of her mouth and poured into the air, free for the world to seize and torture her with. She nervously fingered the hem of her sundress, feeling rather naked. What had happened to the pure confidence that she had always carried with her in New York? Even if she had been walking down Avenue B with only a battered trench coat covering up her dancing ensemble, her hips had swayed, and she hadn't felt abashed in the least when the wind blew back the tails of her coat to caress her completely bare torso and fishnet-clad thighs. Even had her belt not been cinched tight in the November streets, she wouldn't have felt embarrassed if her lacy bra had been revealed.

Where had her confidence sailed off to?

"Adara?" Kai's voice interrupted her thoughts, invading into her mind. She glanced up from where her vision had fallen into gray and met his liquid amber eyes once more.

"Sorry," she muttered, a slight tinge heating her cheeks.

"He's away. He'll come by later." _Oh, that answers my question,_ she commented sarcastically to herself. Leaning her elbows against the grainy wood of the bar, she set her chin in her hands.

"And Casey and Otis?" she inquired.

"With him." She sighed and let her eyes slide shut, despite the fact that her vision didn't change at all when she did so. "You want something to drink?" he asked her.

"Can I just have a lime?" she asked. For some reason, a craving for the citrus had overtaken her taste buds. Her stomach growled for something more substantial, but she ignored the biting snaps of hunger. The young child next to her shifted her position.

"Kai, can I have one too, please?" Adara noticed the apparent smile emanating from Kai's direction. She knew automatically that he looked upon Maddie as his own daughter.

_Can vampires even have kids?_ her conscious prompted. She winced as it took the question back a step. _Can vampires even have sex?_

_I'm going to choose to refrain from addressing that question._ She couldn't help but drop her head onto the bar as Kai's voice flitted between her ears. Chuckling to herself, she pushed her face up from the bar and back into her hands.

"Guess I'll have to find out for myself then," she stated mischievously. Grinning, she sensed Kai roll his eyes and move away to get the limes.

"What?" Maddie questioned. She giggled and shook her head.

"Nothing…." Adara glanced into the sea next to her and gnawed her lower lip. "Why isn't there any music tonight," she asked her young companion.

"Don't you know?" Maddie asked – Adara hated the fact that a five year-old could make her sound like an idiot. "It's open mike night tonight!"

"Open mike?" She mentally slapped herself for repeating what had just been said to her.

"Yeah! A bunch of people come over every Thursday night and play music. Over there." Maddie's hand grasped Adara's and pointed it towards what she knew to be the back of the room. "There's a guy here tonight who isn't one of the regulars. He has this great old acoustic guitar that he showed me. It has a bunch of stickers on it! Two of them are flowers. And they're my favorites: an iris and a stargazer lily!"

An image flashed through Adara's mind of a guitar identical to the one Maddie was describing. A purple iris with tongues of sunshine flowing out of its center, one of the petals peeling away from the surface of the guitar. The strings worn with tuning, but they still produced the clearest and most pure sound she had ever heard in her entire life. Between two of the upper frets, a sticker was wrapped around the neck of the guitar. _I ♥ NY…._

"… and his eyes are like… the chocolatiest brown eyes I've ever seen!" Maddie continued.

Adara's thoughts stumbled over each other, disoriented in the fog of what she understood to be a forgotten memory. _Drunk as fools_… she thought, reeling underneath the tide. Desperate for air, she clung to the hope of getting out of the claustrophobic atmosphere.

"You okay?" A half-wet lime was placed into her palm.

"I need to go outside." She stood, clutching the lime in her hand as sticky juice began to run down her wrist and towards her elbow. Not caring if she ran into anyone or not, she stumbled towards the exit, nearly collapsing in relief as she pushed open the door and staggered into the cool, night air. She spun to her left, her back against the brick, sliding down as her knees drew up to her chest, her dress' skirt folding underneath her as she sank onto the concrete.

Taking one shuddering breath after another, she leaned her head back against the brick and bit into her juicy lime. Tangy sour liquid woke up her taste buds, her mind reviving itself. She swallowed once and gave the lime a break. The sensation reminded her of tossing cold water onto Cameron when he had a hangover. She could recall feeling this way when she shot up what she had bought, awakening to the world and falling away at the same time.

She wondered where Tidus was.

---

_Tidus! _Adara's panicked scream replayed in Tidus' mind, making whatever heart he had left after all of these centuries lurch and want to rush to save her all over again.

Tidus collapsed into the beds of tall field grass, lying on his back and staring into the abyss of stars above his head. The perfect scenery was invaded by a pair of tea-colored eyes and a slobbering pink tongue. Otis's paws pressed against Tidus' chest as the puppy smothered the vampire's face in wet, doglike kisses. He picked Otis up by the scruff of his neck and placed the dog next to his arm on the grass. _Lie down and stay…._

He wanted to know what had happened to him in the past few days. He wanted to know why some orphaned, heroin-addicted, skinny little New York brat had plunged her blind way into his heart and twisted his mind up into knots. He wanted to know why he was lying here, on the ground, with two dogs to who he wouldn't have normally given a second glance.

Despite the fact that Tidus would be pushing two and a half thousand years of age in a little less than two centuries, he found that his brain seemed to be growing younger.

_And pretty, goddamned stupider…._

What had drawn him to the pitiful junkie in the first place? The truth of it was the fact that she hadn't been concerned with her surroundings when she was on the brink of life and death. Had he not bribed her away from the slave-traders, she most certainly would be dead right now, her corpse as white as snow, her blood drained out of every artery, vein, and capillary. While the other women had been frightened to, ironically, death, Adara… Phoenix, then… had just been off in the La La Land of her mind, sifting through memories of a boy who no longer was alive. _Literally and figuratively speaking…._

It didn't bother him that he was putting energy into keeping a mortal alive. Mentally holding every cell, every thread of DNA in her body and forcing it to comply with the demands of staying alive, despite the epidemic of AIDS ruining her T-cells and her addiction to heroin, was relatively easy, he'd discovered. It was the _why_ of it all. _Why_ was he 'wasting his time' with a silly, little mortal girl? She had to be more trouble than she was worth.

He wanted to say that it was because of Avery – because Adara reminded him of the witch that he had found in New York, a dancer for the NYC Ballet. He liked to think that, because Avery had saved his life once, his newfound sympathy for this little druggie was justified. But the two women's similarities ended there: New York City. Avery was eight years older than Adara, a relatively self-trained witch, and a workaholic: she always had to have some sort of project to be working on.

Adara had been orphaned during the first week after her birth, raised by an old windbag of a woman and a boy who just happened to take a liking to the chocolate-haired child. She'd started drugs at the age of ten, unofficially worked as a prostitute before becoming a dancer for a nightclub in Alphabet City, and was barely holding onto her life by age fifteen with AIDS and a newly founded addiction for smack. Her closest friends had included an alcoholic, an anorexic crack head, a runaway workaholic, a _drummer_, and another heroin addict with AIDS who'd ended up becoming her boyfriend.

He knew that Avery couldn't be his justification, but that still didn't answer his question. Blaming Kaelyn was pointless – all that the vampire had done was rescue her from that burning loft. Accusing the weakling who had sold Adara to him was just as selfish.

Truthfully, although he hated to admit it, Tidus just didn't know.

And maybe that's what scared him the most about Adara. She was simply a mystery to him, something waiting to be explored or left in the dark. Tidus had never mixed well with ambiguity. He liked black and whites, not all those impossible shades of gray.

He had once hated his eyes with such a passion that he'd gone to such measures as to change them to black, but Kai had promptly informed him on sight that doing so made him look like a complete dickhead. Tidus had then decided that he was the one mystery that he could deal with. At least he could pry apart his own mind on a regular basis and not have to break through any barriers. The amusing thing was that, after that incident, whenever he had tried to change his eye color from gray, he'd been presented with a splitting headache and temporary blindness. His eyes had obviously taken the insult personally.

Climbing into a sitting position, Tidus sighed underneath the light of a heavy, full moon. The face on its surface always reminded him of a crying woman. He hated the fact that it brought back the image of his sister. The full moon always awoke memories of his that he knew were better off left sleeping in some dark, forgotten corner of his mind. Nudging Otis' sleeping form, he stood, waiting for the pup to lift his head and push himself up onto his legs.

He jammed his fists into the pockets of his leather jacket that still had Adara's scent laced into its lining. Trudging off towards the forest, he headed towards the faint echoes of Boston, away from his cliff. Casey came bounding after him and her pup, occupied with mirroring Tidus' invisible footsteps.

Maybe he'd just wait and see what happened with Adara.

The dogs liked her.

Perhaps that was reason enough.

---

"Adara?" Kate's soothing voice wrapped around Adara's chilled arms like a woolen blanket in the dead of winter. She glanced up from where she still crouched on the cement, a wave of tea and honey claiming her vision.

"Kate," she said, her voice almost a sigh of relief.

"Did Maddie say something to upset you? She said that you had disappeared with black wings on your back." Adara couldn't bite back her smile.

"I just… lost it for a moment."

"Oh," Kate said softly. Adara felt her move next to her and slide down, her sweater's arm pressing against Adara's bare skin. "Do you need a jacket? It's kind of cold out here… Boston in late August… get's chilly. We're heading into winter." She could feel Kate's smile. "We could run upstairs and raid Kai's closet." Adara giggled, her right fist rising up to press against her lips.

"Wait… Kai lives upstairs?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah... Kai's got this great loft up there, all decked out and everything. The two stories above the bar are his. His room has the greatest skylights ever. Whoever said that you can't see stars through glass in the city is dead wrong. When you lie on his bed and look up, it's as if you've been put out in an ocean of black, and there's just the sky, the stars, and tiny, little you."

"Wow…," Adara whispered. She was cold, but the feeling reminded her too much of New York to encourage her to seek out a heater. January was always the worst, meant to be happy because of New Year's, but absolutely miserable because it was the coldest month of the year. She recalled the bone-chilling melancholy that had hung over their heads when their landlord had cut their heat because they hadn't had enough for rent. "Do you and Kai… have something going on?" she asked curiously. Kate laughed into the night, ignoring whoever had been walking in front of them.

"No…. not at all," she said, smile shining. "Though he can rival the looks of Johnny Depp..." Adara felt Kate shake her head. "He and I are just friends. Kai gets along really well with Maddie." Adara smiled.

"And he gives you free beer. Not a bad deal, if you ask me," she said, grinning. Kate laughed.

"It would be so strange if we did end up hooking up. He reminds me a lot of my ex-fiancé." Adara's interest was sparked.

"Ex?" Kate's face fell dramatically. Adara wondered if she should have kept her mouth shut.

"He left when he found out that I was pregnant with Maddie… haven't heard from him since."

"Sorry…," Adara whispered. The statement was like an unintentional slap. She wondered how much it would hurt to just permanently sew her lips shut. _Purple string in Lily's honor…._

"Don't worry about it. He inadvertently gave me the greatest thing that's every come up in my life: my daughter." Kate's smile was back, singing through the air and lightening Adara's shoulders. "And I've known Kai long enough to be assured that he'd never pull a stunt like that." Kate giggled. "He'll tell me that my Johnny Depp clone is out there somewhere, waiting for me, and I'll always ask him if he thinks that someone of that godliness would actually want to marry a woman who hasn't had an ounce of sexuality in her life since her ex-fiancé left her for a whore in Las Vegas."

Adara wondered how Kate could reflect upon the misfortunes in her life with such humor and sense of grace. She knew that Kai respected the tea-eyed woman; she understood now that it was for her strength. Maddie was an added bonus too. She smiled to herself.

"Wake up, kids – we've got the dreamer's disease," she sang softly to herself. Standing, she raised her hands above her head and danced on the cold concrete in her bare feet. Reaching down to grab Kate's hands, she tugged up the older woman and pulled her into a dance. Somewhere, on the block, speakers were playing, 'You Get What You Give.'

"First, we run," Kate sang with her, "And then we laugh 'till we cry!"

---

Tidus and Kai's eyes met each other through the glass window of the pub. The two dancing women between them were completely oblivious to their knowledge, their heels twisting, their arms raised and their hips rotating while the speakers from the nearby restaurant was playing on its patio.

_I say we join them, _Tidus prompted. He saw Kai chuckle behind the bar as he prepared a martini.

_Nah… let them dance._

Both vampires turned their gazes to the two women and watched as Adara and Kate danced. Two guys walking past them and whistled. Kate's head jerked up and met their eyes. She flipped them off gracefully and continued dancing. Adara, however, ground her hips forward, grinning flirtatiously at them. Her hair swung foxily over her shoulder.

"We'll kick your asses!" she shouted in a half singsong voice as the band's song disintegrated into the black speakers of the restaurant.

Tidus found himself being half-proud of his girl. Grinning to himself, he continued to sit on the roof of the restaurant, shaded by the leaves of an oak tree that managed to stay alive in the restaurant's small garden. His foot propped on the ledge, his elbow leaned on his knee. He noticed the glare that Kai gave the two boys when they didn't leave but approached Kate and Adara.

---

Adara was still bobbing her head around as the music faded. Feeling the two boys who had catcalled at Kate and her approach, she didn't let the sexy grin fall off of her face. Tossing her hair over her shoulder, she sauntered a few steps forward to meet one of the boy's eyes. Her vision was splattered with grey-green pigment. "You two are some great dancers," the boy in front of her said. Adara grinned. She could sense that Kate was starting to fall into the teasing flirts that she had begun to model.

"Thanks," she said, her lips curling at the ends.

"What're your names?" the other boy asked. His voice was lower than his friend's, who stood in front of Adara.

"Kate," said her companion. Adara's memory flitted in front of her face.

"_Grind your hips forward… like you're having sex."_

_"With a pole?" she asked. One of her companion dancers named Nadine was helping her get started with this dancing gig that she'd applied for. She laughed._

_"Yep. Evidentally, the guys love it." Phoenix giggled, and then made a thumbs up sign. Placing her thumb against her lower lip, she licked it. Bending her knees and opening her hips, she let her arm fall. When her thumb landing on the crotch of her black underwear, she ground her hips forward on her finger. "Meow," she growled. Standing, she grinned. "How was that?" Nadine tossed her head back and laughed._

_"Mastered!"_

"Phoenix," she replied to the question. She felt Kate glance at her quizzically, but she ignored the look. She knew that this boy didn't know she was blind. He didn't know that she had lost the only friends she had ever loved. He didn't know that she was in the care of a vampire.

Tidus didn't know what she was doing.

She sensed that the boy had moved closer to her. Reaching her hands forward, she grasped his belt loops and pulled his hips against hers. Sliding her hand expertly into his back right pocket, she found a pack of cigarettes. Flipping the top back on the cardboard, she slid one out, pulling away from the boy. "Got a light?" she asked, placing the fag in the corner of her mouth. She could feel his grin and heard the click of a lighter. Cupping her chin, he pulled her closer to him and lit her cigarette.

The bittersweet scent of tobacco swirled around her nose and threatened to make her sick. Taking a drag, she grinned as she blew out. "I'm-," he started to say, but Adara cut him off, placing her finger against his lips. She kept the cigarette in her other hand, in between her forefinger and middle finger. Dropping her finger from his lips, she reached out once more, fingering his belt loop. Standing on her tiptoes, she didn't find it hard for her mouth to discover his lips. He tasted of early-evening booze, cigarettes,and mint toothpaste.

Pulling away, she looked up, meeting his gray-green gaze once more.

---

"Did you see her?" Kate asked incredulously. About three inches from Kai, she'd made sure that Maddie was far enough away so that she didn't hear her mother.

"Yeah," Kai replied. His voice was rather tight, Kate concluded. Did he know something she didn't about this girl?

"What the fuck is she doing?" she asked. "She said her name was 'Phoenix.'" Kai set down the towel that he was using to dry a martini glass that had viciously been emptied. Cecilia was upset this evening. He guessed that her most recent boyfriend had broken up with her… either that or hit her again. Kate's near-crazed honey eyes where nearly on top of his.

"Kate, you know that I can't control her," he said, trying to stay out of the entire situation. He knew that Tidus had seen the little… escapade out on the sidewalk. How could he have not?

"Bullshit," Kate snapped. "Like hell you can't. Go out there and make Adara take a really long, fucking cold shower." Kai looked down at the women that jumbled all of his feelings into a wild pot of lust, common sense, and drunkenness… not to mention a few free beers thrown in.

"Kate – she's not drunk."

"Well, she's on something then. Whatever it is, fix her!"

"Kate…," he sighed. "Why do you care?" Kate's eyes became wide… dumbstruck. She slapped him. Her eyes looked like lightening had illuminated the tea that he knew she drank every morning.

"Because Tidus likes her, you dolt!"

---

Adara took a shaky drag on what was left of her burning cigarette. His burning cigarette. Whatever. She leaned against the brick wall, shuddering.

_"Get away from me!" she screeched, shoving him as hard as he could. He stumbled backwards, the grays and greens in her vision swirling in a mix of confusion and melting desire._

_"Phoe-," he started. She stepped backwards, leaning forwards into her hysterics._

_"You're not him! Leave me alone! Leave me the fuck alone, you bastard!"_

His disappearing steps were gone now. She didn't know where Kate and the other boy had gone, but they weren't there when she had snapped.

_Cigarettes and mint toothpaste…._

She squeezed her eyes shut and desperately wished that her mind could be as blank as it had in the first night it had when she'd been with Tidus.

_Tidus!_

She whirled forwards and choked on the nicotine in her lungs. Her fingers wouldn't stop trembling. Taking one last drag on the cigarette, she tossed it away, walking away from the direction. She didn't feel like burning her bare feet.

_You taste like cigarettes and mint toothpaste._

_When your arms wrap around me, I'm lost._

_It seems that I can destroy any problem's face._

_When you're with me, I'm invincible._

Leaning forward with one arm holding her up, her palm pressed against the rough brick, she choked back a sob. Her mind felt as if it were being torn in two.

Stumbling forward, she found the door handle to the pub and pushed it open. When she managed to let it slam shut behind her, she was hit with a blazing concerto of guitar chords, drum beats, and bass lines. A tiny little part of her mind had managed to stay sane through the past fifteen minutes.

_You've got to be kidding me,_ it whispered.

---

"Well, she's back," Kai stated. Adara looked as if a train had run her over and a pair of ravens was attacking what was left of her brain. Kate turned around and laid her eyes, which he so jealously wanted to turn back towards him, on Adara.

Adara's gaze, however, was focused on the stage, where the stranger stood in front of the microphone, the outlandishly decorated guitar hung over his shoulder, strings under his fingertips. The bassist and the drummer were both grinning to themselves, rocking out as if nothing were unusual.

Kai frantically set down his dishtowel and glanced out the window. The darkness would have obscured Tidus' scowling face from the view of any mortal, but Kai could easily pick him out, still sitting on the roof of the restaurant.

_Tidus…._

_I know. Is she high?_

_Well… I don't know, but it's not that. You should probably get your ass in here. She looks like she's going to puke, and you might too,when you see who's at the mike._

---

_Baby's black balloon makes her fly_

_I almost fell into that hole in your life_

_And you're not thinking 'bout tomorrow_

_'Cause you were the same as me_

_But on your knees_

She just about died when he sang the first word. She just about fell onto the floor and lost her soul right then and there. She knew the guitar chords like the back of her hand. She could see his fingers strumming over the strings, callused but eternally beautiful. Just as he said, she fell to her knees, not even registering the impact on her joints.

_A thousand other boys could never reach you_

_How could I have been the one?_

_I saw the world spin beneath you_

_And scatter like ice from the spoon_

_That was your womb_

It was all so clear in her mind. The needles, his hands, the rubber ties, his hair, the powdered smack, his eyes… they all bombarded her vision, even though she knew that she was good and blind.

_Comin' down the world turned over_

_And angels fall without you there_

_And I go on as you get colder_

_Or are you someone's prayer?_

His words took her back to New York, back to before, back before the fire, the red eyes, and the scars. Back to a club where he was elevated over her head… she only reached up to his ankles, staring up at him, dancing for only him, as if there weren't hot, sweaty bodies pressed against every side of her, as if they were the only two people in the world._  
_

_You know the lies they always told you_

_And the love you never knew_

_What's the things they never showed you_

_That swallowed the light from the sun_

_Inside your room_

She wondered if it had all unraveled after he'd gone… or if it had started before that. She wondered if it had just begun the moment she had gasped in her first lungful of air… or her first trip out of the world, or her first submerging into water, or the first time she'd been forced to come down.

_Yeah…_

Maybe it had all started when she'd stepped into that church, her clothes dripping, his guitar there in his hands, as always, playing to whatever god had given them their lives.

_Comin' down the world turned over_

_And angelsl fall without you there_

_And I go on as you get colder_

_Or are we someone's prayer?_

Wherever it had started, wherever it had begun to unravel, she honestly didn't give a damn. The tears were flowing down her face, stinging her cheeks. She felt one drop onto the back of her hand that was twisted with her other, lying in the soft bowl of her skirt.

_And there's no time left for losin'_

_When you stand they fall_

She imagined that she had wings, great silver-gray wings that beat against the air. She was soaring above New York City, her tears melding with the rain falling from the gray skies. Everything was gray, gray, gray…. As she looked up, she took a shaky breath. Her vision was suddenly transformed into a wild ecstasy of liquid chocolate.

_Yeah…_

People said that an addict was always an addict, an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. She didn't know if she believed them or not. Cameron had never proved anything. She hadn't either. She was still addicted to his eyes.

_Comin' down the world turned over_

_And angels fall without you there_

_And I goon as you get colder_

A small part of her wished that she'd never walked back into the pub. It wished that it were back with Tidus, feeling vulnerably safe in his arms, the comforting silvers, grays, and blacks enveloping her into an embrace. A small part of her wished that she was back to yesterday, talking with Kai and laughing over a mug of tea. Another wished that she was still dancing with Kate, dancing with Adara, going to dance with Maddie. It cried for Casey and Otis to smother her with wet kisses, bury her under their enduring love.

But the greater part of her mind was just screaming: screaming in ecstasy, joy, whatever it wanted to be called… screaming for him and demanding sustenance. Demanding that she go back to it all, face whatever came, seize each day as her last. It ordered her to fall into his guitar and never come back up for air… never.

_All because I'm_

_Comin' down the years turn over_

_And angels fall without you there_

_And I'll go on and lead you home and_

_All because I'm_

_All because I'm _

_And I'll become_

_What you became to me_

It all became clear in that one instant, the last guitar chord reverberating off of the walls. Adara pushed herself off of the ground and stood, waiting for it all to come back and hit her like a lusted-after punch of smack, blow her mind out of her skull, and take her sailing over an endless ocean of anything.

---

Casey and Otis bounded into the pub as Tidus pushed open the door for them. He would have given anything at that instant to go back to where he had been before– naïve… but that would have been over two thousand years ago, back in an age where he couldn't have had anyone he'd wanted.

He discovered, in that instant, that he still couldn't have anyone he desired. Despite being immortal, despite having the intellectual capacity of a genius on steroids, despite being able to kill a mortal with only a tendril of thought, he still couldn't have what he wanted.

And what he wanted was wrapped in the arms of a memory that he knew, for certain, should have never been revived.

---

Adara's arms clung to his neck, her legs wrapped around his waist. Though she had thrown herself at him with all the momentum she could ever possess, he hadn't been pushed back an inch. His arms were squeezing around her own waist, his chin resting on top of her head. Her face had habitually buried itself in his neck, pressing against his collarbones, back in the familiar.

"You came back," she whispered against his skin, her voice wet with tears and emotion. She could feel his smile, feel it around her, in her.

"I told you that I would." His voice made her heart feel as if the mangled threads holding it together were ripped out of the scars there. Healing almost instantaneously, she began to feel as if she truly were herself, almost as if she had everything back.

"You were gone for so long." His smile didn't go away.

"Only about a month… did you miss me?" She grinned and pretended to slap him.

"Not at all, idiot."

"Well… I missed you, Phoenix." Soft, warm lips pressed against hers, and she was entirely sure, at that moment, that she was as whole as she had ever been and ever would be.

* * *

**_Review Responses:_**

_Between2Worlds:_ Well… I'm glad that we're almost over that little depression phase. Here – have some of my chocolate breakfast bar. Eh… after this one… hahaha… Tidus isn't going to be much of a knight on a white horse. I think we'll start to see the vampire in him soon enough. And this chapter had tads of Adara being her NYC self. Tu l'aime?

_Sonora Faye:_ Lol… I can't wait to see this story. Alert me when it has been awoken. Fan clubs! Take a hammer to his head… or a needle and let the air out. I normally can't stand air-headed men. Aw… the guitar pick story is cute. My roommate's boyfriend has the greatest collection of them, but he only uses two! I've checked them out on iTunes, and they sound great! The only problem is that I'm completely cheap, and I'll have to find them somewhere for free… XD. Wine Red was my favorite of theirs. Hahaha… what she'll be feeling when she remembers. Well, you should see how she _feels_ in this chapter. Next chapter, you're going to see how she _deals_. Ah… not all emo kids are bad… just the wimpy ones. I actually do have an emo friend (gasp), and he's cool. Glad to hear the concert went well… hope you liked Ch. XVI!

_Lightningwriter:_ Aw… thanks for the review. It seemed that most people didn't like Ch. XV as much as I had hoped for them to. It was kind've just a fill-in chapter, one last smooth one before the bombs start exploding. Hope you liked this one a wee bit better!

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Lol… I wish dog training was that easy too. Hope you liked Ch. XVI!

_escapefromreality:_ Lol… I forgive you for the typo. Glad to hear that the conversation cleared up for you. Still haven't journeyed to the land above? Have fun when you eventually get there. My friend went, and he's now obsessed with it. Aw… I do try to put detail in. I mean, she is blind. How else would we know what's going on if I didn't tune in to her senses? Okay – I answered your question in the A/N on Ch. XV, but I guess it got confusing. DP will still be here – it's my number one priority. Edit-versions come as they please. Glad to know that I will probably be collecting some royalties if I publish this…. XD. Hope you liked Ch. XVI!

_DreamlndxFantasy:_ Lol… I love your reviews – I unfortunately am too lazy to answer them separately. So here goes: I am a total Renthead, so it wouldn't be shocking for this to remind you partially of Rent. I'm trying to steer away from completely focusing on it, just letting some stuff slip in here and there. Glad you kept reading…. Lol… so glad the who Tidus/master thing got cleared up. This chapter should have elaborated a little more too. It's that obvious, isn't it? Hahaha… it's not meant to be a secret. Yes – I'm shooting for Tidus and Adara to hook up at one point, but we have a long ways to go before either of them finally gets it. Okay, so before I start rambling, I'll take my leave. Hope you liked Ch. XVI!

_Fk306 animelover:_ Thanks for the review! Hope you liked Ch. XVI!

_Dani:_ Alright… thanks for all of your reviews! I am, as I admitted above, a total and complete Renthead, but I do try to steer away from making this involve Rent too much. Glad you love this so much! A lot of people seemed to be confused as to why Adara didn't swim up. Have you ever just completely forgotten something that you had learned when you needed to know it, like on a test or something? This kind've happened with Adara in the lake. She froze when she fell into the water, partially because she'd stepped into nothing when she'd begun to trust Tidus and Casey. A larger part of it involves what is happening in this chapter, so I hope things got cleared up. If not… badger me, and I'll try to explain it better. It's really great to know that I have readers who like this so much! (Glares at the readers who never review.) Hope you liked Ch. XVI!

_The Wolf in the Moon:_ Ah! I love you! (Points at The Wolf in the Moon) LOOK EVERYONE! SHE GAVE ME ADVICE ON HOW TO MAKE THIS BETTER! You, dear, are now at the top of my list. Thank you! Now… haha… I do know that this could use some major proofreading – that's partially why I've started the Fiction Press DP, so that I can go through my chapters and edit/proofread/rewrite what I need to. Check it out, and tell me what you think. Thanks again for the review! Hope you liked Ch. XVI!

_WinterNightWolf: _Lol… (bows) thank you! Sometimes I wonder how people even passed Middle School. English grammar doesn't make sense, but does that mean that people in High School should still be forgetting to dot their 'i's' and capitalize the first word of every sentence? I think not. Glad to know that there's someone out there who shares my sentiments. I'm trying to keep this from focusing on fanfiction, although I still have it here, because I do want to publish this someday… with a lot of work done beforehand. I need to finish it first… XD. Hope your editing works out – if you wanted me to, I could take a look at a chapter or something, but, at the moment, I am completely and utterly swamped. Thanks for the review, and hope you liked Ch. XVI!

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	17. Chapter XVII Home

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**_Sorry the lines are off on this... the ruler tool isn't working... blame FanFiction if it angers you that much, as it does me._**

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**A/N: I had a fantastic ranting going up here, but… I decided to delete it. I'm going back to school in early September, and that means that this is the last chapter for a while. I will try very hard to keep up with this, but I can't guarantee anything.**

**At the moment, my story has had 5,936 hits. Only 130 of those hits have resulted in reviews. That's little more than 2 of readers reviewing. Just thought that maybe some of you might like to know those statistics... I do have to say though, three people who have never reviewed before reviewed to Ch. XVI, and that thrilled me beyond belief.**

**Anyways, this is about ¼ of the length of my original rant. It was actually more of an essay. All I can say is:**

**Review.**

**Check out DP's edited version on FictionPress**

**Check out 'Where Loyalties Lie'**

**Enjoy the last few weeks of summer.**

♥ **Always – Silver Phoenix**

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_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

When they finally broke the kiss, Adara pulled away, still wrapped in his arms, her feet not touching the floor. _Phoenix..._She shook her head at him and took a soft breath.

"No," she said to him, continuing to shake her head. "No, no... Evan..." She looked up into the deep abyss of chocolate eyes and shook her head one last time. "No... it's Adara now."

She felt his quizzical glance, but he smiled once more – it radiated from the area in front of her like a star that shone brighter than the sun itself. "Name changing, eh? Okay, _Adara_," he said, placing emphasis on her new name. Soft lips pressing against hers, Adara was lost in yet another kiss, but there was a nagging feeling at the back of her mind that something wasn't right. Pushing Evan away, she pried herself out of his arms, dropping to the floor. Turning her head, she shifted from two sets of dumbstruck amber eyes and settled into an ocean of silver, gray, and black.

Something happened then that snapped her control in half.

"You," she snarled, stalking forward towards Tidus. When Otis' soft fur brushed her ankles, she knew that she was little less than a foot away from her vampire. "You made me forget!" She slapped Tidus' cheek with all of the mortal strength she possessed and bit her lower lip. Killing whatever space was left between them, she shoved him backwards, slightly confused when he actually moved. "You fucking bastard," she snapped, shoving him once more. "You... fucking... made... me forget!"

She despised the fact that she was discovering herself to be at loss when Tidus made no effort to stop her, or to keep his own body from moving. Her thoughts spilling into a whirlpool, she slapped him once more, but the stinging sensation wasn't enough to douse the flames of her rage.

How dare he? Her conscious continued to put up a battle against the vampire in front of her, but she knew that something was dreadfully wrong. It wasn't only the fact that Tidus was simply taking her physical abuse – there was something in the aura surrounding him that told her what she was thinking was entirely wrong.

"Phoe-?" While she was trying to sort out what exactly it was that she should do next, Evan's melodic voice embraced her from behind. His hands soon followed, resting on her hips, holding her against his body. His mouth brushing the skin of her neck, he whispered into her hair. "Adara… c'mon, baby… let's go. I've got some friends I want you to meet."

As his hand slid into hers, she felt him pulling her towards the doorway, her bare feet sliding somewhat on the wood flooring. Resisting his hands, she fumbled out of his grasp on her hands. Pressing her palm against his chest, she silently spoke without thoughts or words. _Hold on…._

Taking a few steps forward, she disengaged from the entire noise of the pub. The television didn't speak to her – the music now coming from the stage couldn't penetrate her ears. She focused on finding Tidus, searching for his aura that slid across her skin like silken water. _Tidus?_ She had to fight being overwhelmed by the extreme urge to cry when her hands couldn't find him where she had struck his gently warm cheek.

"He's gone." Her eyes quickly found Kai's amber irises, but they were softly muted, as was his voice. She didn't want to believe what her senses were telling her – Kai couldn't possibly be upset with her… he just couldn't be. A flash of a memory of twin tea-colored eyes with the same expression scattered through her mind.

_Please no… please no…._ She scrambled her thoughts together, enough so to allow her to produce words. "Where did he go?" she asked. Silence responded, and it wasn't until Evan's hands were again dragging her towards the door that a thought-spoken reply raised its voice.

_You'll have to find him for yourself…._

She found herself looking backwards as Evan opened the door and pulled her into the night. All of the coldness in her body that had begun to wear off gradually since the fire seemed to flood back into her, chilling her veins and seeping into every particle of her being. As Evan's arms wrapped around her, she shivered slightly.

Unlike he had once done, he wasn't keeping her warm.

---

"Why'd you let that creep take her away?" Kate's blonde locks were sliding over her shoulders as she leaned forward on the bar. Maddie, sitting next to her, sipped her hot chocolate, her wide, intelligent blue eyes, focusing on the woman who was now at the microphone. Kai pushed his hair out of his eyes, only to have it flop back into his vision. He was getting a migraine, and it wasn't only induced by the activities of the evening. He hadn't fed in over a week, and the first effects of extended thirst were pricking fractures at the edges of his mind.

He dragged his longing eyes away from the soft curve of Kate's neck and shook himself free of the migraine for a few more minutes. Twisting open a bottle of water, he took a greedy gulp, attempting to appear dehydrated. He sighed once before he set down the bottle and leaned against the counter behind him. He vaguely noticed that the hem of his black t-shirt was unraveling. He jerked at the crinkled thread until it broke. Letting it fall from his fingers to the floor, he watched it float until it hit the wood.

Looking up, he met Kate's honeyed eyes. "Kate," he breathed, speaking her name while trying to hide two year's worth of pent up longing. "Adara is a heroin addict." He wondered if Tidus would be okay with him telling Kate this, but he didn't wonder for too long. Kate would have found out eventually anyways. "And she has AIDS. Basically, she has been clean for little less than a week so far, but the guy she just left with… he's her old boyfriend, and he's a junkie too."

"Well, then, all the more reason for you to have kept him from taking her out of here." He watched Kate regard him for a moment before her nose wrinkled adorably into a quizzical stare. "Is there something you and Tidus aren't telling me here?"

_Only that both he and I are the living dead… and that Adara's old boyfriend's one of us now. It might not help to mention this as well, but I'm head over heels in love with you. _"No." Whatever was left of his conscious after more than a millennium of being repeatedly destroyed piped up at his denial. _She deserves to know._

_But she and Maddie deserve something even more than knowing, and you should understand that._

"Kai?" He glanced up and found her bronze eyes only inches from his. He logically knew that he was over six inches taller than her, but he felt as if she were the one looking down at him.

"Hm?"

"You look like you're dealing with a legendary migraine." He loved the way her unadorned fingers curved around her jean-clad hips, her fingernails cut short, traces of neon purple paint clinging to their edges.

"You could put it that way," he said, standing and regretting doing so as Kate moved backwards to compensate. "Finger-painting with Maddie?" He felt only negligibly better as he looked down into her eyes that were raised to focus on his. She smiled softly, gently in her motherly way.

"Yeah. Want some help?" He chuckled, shaking his head at her.

"Sure." He watched her grab one of his aprons from a peg on the wall and tie it around her waist. It was genuinely huge on her, but he could assure anyone that he probably hadn't ever seen her look better than when she was behind his bar.

"I keep telling you that you need to hire some people to help run this place," she said after taking an order for a strawberry daiquiri. He, in turn, started making a Black Russian for a man that had taken the seat next to Maddie.

"And I keep telling you that you're the only person that's qualified so far," he said, watching Maddie out of the corner of his eye. The young girl smiled up at the man next to her as tugged a lock of her blonde hair.

"I guess I'm not the only one that likes the hot chocolate here," the man said to the young child. Kai smiled to himself, picking up a glass for the guy's drink. Kate playfully bumped his hip with hers.

"You need a break."

"You do too." He couldn't help but provoke Kate into their routine argument.

"I don't work six days a week."

"I don't deal with obnoxious teenagers. Plus, you need time for a good, painful hangover." Kate rolled her eyes at him and pressed the button of the blender. Kai smirked as the noise engulfed them. He'd won, as usual.

---

Tidus held his head in his hands, his fingers entangled in his windblown hair. Knees drawn up, his elbows rested on the soft denim of his jeans. A wet nose pressing against his ear made him finally release his head and look up. Casey's soft chocolate eyes were inches from his own – she nudged him softly before sitting at his side. Otis, in turn, tumbled through the grass and lay on his side, looking up towards Tidus. He smiled softly at the pair of canines – he was beginning to like the way they simply sat by him without trying to pull a belly-rub or an ear scratching from him.

Glancing out into the dark abyss of ocean, he sighed into the wind. The stars hung low over the glass-like surface of the water, the moon's reflection wavering slightly as a series of waves passed underneath it. The quietness of Cape Cod was astounding tonight – even the waves' crashes were muted.

He tipped his head towards the sky, falling backwards until his back lay against crushed field grass. The air tasted salty, with a tang like a piece of unripe citrus. A lightning bug illuminated a patch of sky above his head in a tiny, bright green beacon.

"They're advertising in the skies, for people like us…." It was fitting that the U2 song should come to his mind as he thought about Adara. She'd be back in New York by this point. He wondered how long it would take for her to get high again. Tidus could feel her heart beating within the part of his mind that focused entirely on keeping her alive. He didn't know if he was going to keep up his effort… it was pointless if she was going to get high.

_Maybe she doesn't want to live…_ he thought. He wondered why he'd begun holding her to life. Did he have some fantasy that maybe he and her could live together? She was mortal, and he knew that she would be miserable if she knew that he held her life in his hands. Adara was a young woman who would want complete control over her own existence – she clearly expressed that in her drug abuse, her mannerisms… everything that she had done in New York.

He knew that the city was what everything that was destroying her centered around. Evan, smack – she'd blatantly worn on the fringes of her mind that she wasn't willing to leave it all behind. He'd had hopes that she'd forget it with what he was going to show her, but… Evan had come back.

At this point, Tidus wasn't going to be able to protect her from him. He hated the fact, but he knew that she trusted Evan as much as she did smack and New York. Adara was going to have to save herself on her own.

He decidedly stood, letting the wind play through his hair as if he were an instrument at its fingertips. Taking one last look at the velvet ocean, he turned to Casey and Otis, reaching down and picking up the pup. Placing his free hand against the scruff of Casey's neck, he laced his fingers through her thick fur.

When he opened his eyes, Avery stood before him, smirking slightly, her arms crossed over her chest. Otis wriggled out of his hold to drop ungracefully to the floor. Shaking himself as he stood, he looked around for his mother, who had moved to inspect a new device gracing the kitchen door. She pushed her nose against the transluscent rubber, finally mustering up the courage to walk through the newly-installed doggie door. Otis took less than half the time to inspect it before he followed his mother into the backyard.

"Been busy, have you?" he asked pointlessly. Avery's dark green eyes sparkled with her smile.

"Not too much so. Where's Adara?" Tidus glanced out the window of the door to see Casey and Otis romping in the dark grass. A few fireflies illuminated the air outside of their playing zone.

"New York," he stated. One of Avery's arms moved so that her hand could place itself on her hip. Her jeans were ragged, hanging loose and low around her waist, torn enough to resemble a college boy's sofa.

"Now why would you have let her go back there?" Her ruby lips were parted slightly after they had fallen from her quick smile. Blood-auburn hair was tucked and twisted into a messy bun, a few strands dropped and curled to frame her face. At one point, he might have pursued a more intimate relationship with the witch, but he knew better than to get himself tangled up in her temper after living with her for six years. It didn't matter - now, he only had eyes for brunette beauties with indigo eyes.

"I didn't really let her – her old boyfriend came to take her back." He tried desperately to keep the pained look out of his eyes. Two-thousand years of practicing poker faces proved faithful to him.

"What are you going to do?" He looked up at Avery as he hoisted himself onto the black marble countertop. A vase of red roses stood at his elbow – in his imagination, they shed tears of blood that pooled onto the surface underneath his hand.

"I don't know." Avery sighed, crossing her arms again. He vaguely noticed that she'd stolen one of his t-shirts and had gotten red paint splattered all over its torso and ragged sleeves. "How's your painting coming?" he asked. Her eyes lit up at the inquiry for a moment.

"Alright… slowly, but I'm making my signature mess."

"I can see that my t-shirt's been another victim." She shrugged, holding her arms out to her sides for a moment as she did so.

"What can I say?" she asked to no one in particular. "Yours cost five bucks apiece, and, anyways, you never wear these anymore. You quit working with me when we finished repainting the music room."

"After you threw a paint bucket at my head for not lining tape on the trim boards, you mean." She rolled her eyes at him.

"It's your house. Most people who pay a million and a half dollars for a home don't want to have paint-splattered trim boards." He smirked mentally for a moment, shaking his head at her. "So when are you going to go to New York?" she asked. He smiled, sliding off of the countertop and moving towards the back staircase. Hand on the wall, he swung himself around the corner and looked back at her in the split second before he bounded up the stairs, taking them three at a time.

"Right now."

---

New York… she practically could feel it singing her name and embracing her like a long-lost lover. The polluted air breathed like a dream to her - the familiar rumbles of traffic, screams of braking tires, and distant pounding beats of nightclubs all flooded into her body and welcomed her home. Though she became colder and colder with every second passing while she was with Evan, she couldn't help but be thrilled.

It was almost normal.

Despite the fact that she couldn't see a single thing, she could feel the glaring lights, the blazing neon, and chrome so hot it was glacial surrounding her mind. Home… she was _home_, and she was going to be in ecstasy for as long as the simple feeling would stay with her.

She turned her head to look up at Evan's eyes. Her vision flooding with chocolate, she smiled flirtatiously. "Where are we going?" she asked, nudging her hip against his. She could feel his grin, and she imagined his dark brown hair shading his eyes.

"We're going to drop by an apartment I share with two other guys and their girls. You can grab some clothes from them, and then we're going to a nightclub that one of them DJs at." At the mention of clothing, she found that she felt inadequately dressed for the likes of New York. While the sundress was airy and very much to her liking, she found that it fit better with the scene of Boston and its classic, chic aura. New York… she felt like flirting with New York tonight, and that blatantly called for leather, fishnets, and stiletto knee-high boots, not to mention a knack at breaking the rules and dancing.

"So why have you gotten a new apartment?" she asked. "Have you seen Cameron? How are they doing?" She felt Evan withdraw slightly – his hand became even colder as it held hers. She suppressed a shiver – who cared if New York was cold tonight? She was home! However, there was something nagging at the back of her mind….

_Is this what you really want?_ Where the hell had that thought come from? She slapped herself mentally and continued to keep up with Evan's long stride. Of course she wanted to be home… New York was everything….

_What about Tidus?_ Her mind was running wild on the sheer ecstasy of being back – she tried to tell herself that, but the hesitation of her memories of Boston didn't silence themselves. As she always did, as she always had done, she shoved them back into a dark corner of her conscious and did her best to ignore them.

"Well… you know I'm not mortal anymore." She squeezed Evan's hand gently.

"I know – that's okay. We can make this work." Smiling as Evan leaned in for a quick kiss, soft as a dove's wings, his voice trailing through her mind.

_Of course it will…._ "I haven't 'seen' them… but I dropped by a few times after I died… just to check on you guys. After the fire, well… that's when I started working on finding you." He paused for a moment, hugging her against him. In her mind, she could practically see him looking down at her, his sweet eyes comforting. "You know, it was all about you… always." He stopped, holding her with him, against his body – she ignored the fact that he was as cold as his hands.

'_Why are you cold, but Tidus and Kai are as warm as a living human?' _she wanted to ask, but she held back the words… and the thought. She got the feeling that Evan wouldn't be able to read her as easily as Kai and Tidus had done… something about him didn't radiate… power and command the way the two Bostonian vampires had. Evan seemed… weaker, with less control, but she didn't want to believe it.

When Evan began walking, his arm slid from around her waist – she found that she didn't miss it that much. The air was warmer than his skin. He spoke once more. "I just… got caught up in finding you – the others… they weren't my priority."

"Maybe we should-," she started, but a quick squeeze to her hand silenced her.

"Or maybe we shouldn't – the dead shouldn't mingle with mortals, unless it revolves around feeding or changing." She pulled her hand away from his and stopped, standing away from him. Cars moved behind her, stirring a wind that tossed the hem of her dress in the cool air.

"What? Then why are you… am I just a _meal_ to you then?" She felt something shift in his presence as she spoke. His hand reached for hers, catching it. She tried to yank it away, but he held her closely, pulling her against him.

"Is that really what you think? Of course not, baby!" He dropped a silken kiss against her neck, but it only made her… more… uneasy. She wondered why she was feeling this way. This was Evan… this was _Evan_, she told herself. He couldn't possibly want to kill her… could he? She was suddenly overcome with a sweet fogginess in her mind… that was absurd. Evan _loved_ her… how could she be so irrational?

Looking up into his eyes, she stopped resisting him and smiled softly. "I'm sorry," she said. "That was silly of me." She felt him smile against her neck and plant another soft kiss on her skin.

"No… you're much more than everything in the world… and, now," he said, placing a kiss on her jawbone, "We can be so much more… we can have each other for ever…."

Though she couldn't see anymore, she had discovered that she could feel enough to make up for her lost sight. Evan's jeans pressed against her legs in a rough breath, the concrete beneath her feet was cold but welcoming, and Evan's fingers entwined in her hair just brushed the skin behind her neck. The position that they were in, him cradling her against his body, reminded her of… reminded her of… she could see the image perfectly in her mind… the vampire holding Evan against his body, her brown-eyed prince limp and lifeless.

She wanted desperately to stand on her own and pull away. This was too close… too close… _stop…._ The sharp press of fangs against her neck was probably the first real sense of the world that she'd been dragged into. _Evan, stop it…._ She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to take command of her arms that were hanging at her sides. When Evan's fangs pierced the taught skin of her neck, she finally took that split second of when he lost control to pull away from him. One hand flying to her neck, she stepped back, her other hand out in front of her, as if it was going to ward him away.

"Evan!" she exclaimed, shock laced into her voice. Her fingertips on her neck found a sticky, warm liquid coating her skin. It didn't hurt physically, but her mind felt as if it were fumbling for a power-source. _Just plug me into a damn electrical outlet…_ she felt tired. "What were you trying to do?" she accused, taking another step backwards as she felt him come closer.

When his hand caught her wrist, she tried to jerk away from him, but he didn't let go. Finally letting go of her hesitation, she swung her free arm backwards, turning her body for an extra powered slap. His head snapped to the side upon impact, her palm stinging. She stopped moving entirely, trying to understand what he would do next. Feeling him shake his head, his hand slowly let go of her wrist as if he were waking up from a dream.

"_Evan!_" Her voice seemed to wake him fully. "I told you to _stop_!" She could sense his pained expression, and she found herself succumbing to his silent apology.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, as if she were accusing him of the highest felony. She felt him shake his head once more, and she could practically see his hair flipping from side to side as he did so. His eyes had yet to fill her vision. She'd bet anything that he was keeping them down, the way he did so when he was ashamed of something, like a puppy being reprimanded.

"I'm sorry," he stated once more. His voice had regained most of its normalcy. "I haven't fed in a while, and… you're blood…." He paused. "I'll take you to the apartment. Have Melinda get you ready, and then wait for me."

"Melinda?" She felt confused, as if he were avoiding something and wasn't telling her the entire truth. As he brought her into a hesitating embrace, the sensation of claustrophobia took over her mind for a moment before a piano's chords trailed into her mind. Looking up, she felt soft, plush carpet underneath her feet. When Evan's arms disappeared from around her waist, she tried to catch him from leaving, but she found him already gone.

Turning, she found her vision filled with pure, midnight black. A soft smile brushed around her arms – it was warmer than Evan's. "Hi," a female said. Her voice was like chimes, ringing as soft as wind brushing through trees. "I'm Melinda."

Adara kept herself from stepping backwards. The blackness absorbing her mind was like a deep pit of gloom. The hue unnerved her, but the presence in front of her, Melinda's, wasn't foreboding. She faintly noticed that the piano's melody had ceased.

"Adara," she said quietly. A smooth hand picked up her own and shook it gently.

"My pleasure." She could feel the woman shrug. Her aura had a sense of power that was similar to traces found on Tidus' and Kai's. She wondered if that was a meter of power. Evan had mentioned that he was crashing with other vampires. _Will I be safe here?_ she asked herself. A soft, feminine chuckle resonated through the clear air. This apartment felt… chic but reserved, as if it was a model walking down a runway – quiet, reticent, but fatally beautiful.

"Of course you will be. Unlike Evan, we can control our bloodlust. I think he still should have waited before bringing you back… he's still too young." She felt somewhat reassured around this woman. She seemed to be… _trustworthy?_ Adara didn't know if _any_ vampire could be trusted, after what _Evan_ had done those few moments ago. _I thought he was supposed to love me…._

"And he does," Melinda said. "Or, at least, he thinks he does…." Adara raised her chin slightly, pulling back with her spine, but not moving her feet. Melinda laughed softly again. "Oh, don't mind me… I'm just being contemplative." Adara felt her wave her hand in the air, as if she were brushing off the awkward pause.

"You mentioned 'we'?" Adara inquired.

"That would encompass me… the two other boys are out. Evan's probably going to join them." The new voice was lower than Melinda's… more of an alto, with a bit more grace. "My name is Faiyra." Adara turned her head slightly so that she could meet Faiyra's eyes – they were as black as Melinda's, but they were laced with tinges of flame, making the entire picture in Adara's mind look like a dizzying inferno. She quickly pulled her gaze away from Faiyra's eyes.

"Were you the one playing the piano?" she asked. A feline smile ignited the air.

"Yes… you play as well?" Adara nodded.

"Well," Melinda said, as if she were about to engage in a battle of words and wits, "Evan sure hasn't told us _everything_ about you." Adara sensed a shared smile between Melinda and Faiyra. They seemed connected, as if they were sisters. She wondered vaguely why Evan had brought her here. Did he expect her to simply merge into his new lifestyle and become the triplet?

"We should probably get you dressed. It won't take the boys long to finish up." Adara knew that this was her cue to follow the two women, who were now moving away from her. She would have given anything at that moment for Casey or Otis to be with her. She knew that Melinda and Faiyra weren't going to hold out their hands for her to take. She stepped forward, doing her best to keep track of the exact direction they were moving. It was difficult because neither of them made any noise at all. Adara had to reach out with her mind to grasp at the fringes of their auras. It didn't help that she was frightened of falling or running into something. Between colliding with payphones, tripping over toilets, and falling into a lake, she had learned to be careful.

She moved her arms out to her sides as she felt her two leaders turn a sharp corner – the familiar edge of a door frame brushed her fingertips, and she nearly fell to the ground in relief as Melinda and Faiyra stopped moving forward. "Go ahead and sit down on the bed," Melinda said. _Two steps to your right…._

Adara bit back a sarcastic thought-response and simply moved in the direction she had been guided. Finding the folded edge of a comforter, she moved away from the corner and sat down, trying to imitate the gracefulness of the two immortal women. She had finally concluded that, yes, both were vampires. They couldn't possibly move so quietly if they were mortal.

She heard a soft, distant rustling and a drawer being opened. Melinda giggled. "I suppose that you got that dress from the guy that kidnapped you," she stated. Adara's mind jumped to defense – _Tidus didn't kidnap me!_ She tried to hide the scowl on her face, but Melinda didn't say anything. "You're about the same size as Faiyra… just thinner and shorter, but we'll make do."

"We'll make Evan take you shopping tomorrow," Faiyra said, sounding as if she were entering the room from a closet. "How could you possibly have no shoes? Was Evan crazy, walking with you outside?" Something was set on the bed next to her. Adara raised her hand to touch it and discovered a box with tissue paper peeking out of the lid.

"Boots," Melinda said, holding something out to her. Adara reached up, leaving the box, and took it. "And these are fishnets." The package was unopened, and it only took her about five seconds to split it open. She felt as if her old life was being handed back to her.

"You probably will look best in all black… hey, Faiyra, do you still have that top that makes you look like an anorexic crack head?" _Lily…. _Had Adara been Faiyra at that instant, she would have slapped Melinda, but she kept her hands on the spider-webbed fishnets.

"Yeah… Adara, you'll fill it out much better than I do. Let me grab it… and I think that black mini would work…." Faiyra's voice grew distant for a moment before she returned to the room. Melinda's smile radiated like a black raven's cawing. Adara suppressed the shivers that threatened to run up and down her spine.

"That will be perfect, and here's the skirt. Adara, put these on. I'll do your makeup when you're done." No sooner had Melinda finished her sentence, Adara was left completely alone. She exhaled the breath that she hadn't known she'd been holding and stood. Fumbling with the clasp and the zipper of her sundress, she pulled it over her head, letting it fall to the floor before she thought better for a moment. Bending to pick it up, she re-zipped it and began to fold it. Tenderly setting it down on the bed, she regarded it for a moment, though she could see nothing but gray. Her fingertips traced the embroidery before she picked it up, pressing the soft fabric against her face and breathing deeply. The lake water that had dried still clinging to the fabric made the sundress smell of fall and sand… traces of cigarette smoke were there in the threads as well. Adara took her head away from it when she recalled what had happened. She set the dress back on the bed and moved to find the fishnet stockings.

The skirt that she pulled on over those was short enough to be deemed treasonous. It barely covered her butt, which was apparently shapelier than Faiyra's, for the skirt's hem just brushed her fingertips when she set her hand against her hip. It was leather and hugged her skin like a glove. Pulling the shirt over her head, she discovered that it sported a dramatic v-neck. The wide shoulders were hardly enough to make up for the fact that her bra was millimeters from being displayed.

Her bare arms were chilled, and she rubbed them for a moment before she opened the box that held the boots. She smiled when she found them to be nearly identical to the ones that Avery had given her to wear the night before. Pulling them on, she stood four inches higher than she normally did. She barely had time to stand and tug her skirt down to cover her butt before Melinda opened the door and walked in.

"Oh, you look fabulous. Evan was right – you are so the club-dancer type." Adara didn't know whether to take this as a compliment or not, coming from Melinda. The woman seemed so… she wasn't sure. She didn't have much time to contemplate the vampire's mannerisms, for she was being tugged into another room where tiled floor allowed her boots to clack like typewriters when she walked forward.

Melinda forcefully pushed her down to sit on a wooden stool of sorts before she moved to bustle around Adara for a moment. "First," she said, pressing a warm, damp rag against Adara's neck, "Let's get rid of this blood. Messy eater, eh Evan?" she asked to no one in particular. "And now," she said, moving once again when she'd rubbed furiously against Adara's tender skin. Her victim bit back a wince as she touched her skin on her neck. The pinpricks that Evan's fangs had made were not entirely healed, but at least the blood had clotted and wasn't bleeding anymore.

"Alright… black is so totally your color," Melinda began, but Adara found herself tuning out to her 'makeup artist's' voice when a piano's chords drifted into the atmosphere. It was a haunting melody – strong but beautiful, in a chilling way.

Melinda's jabbing at her eyes with eyeliner, the quick, dusty application of blush, and the elongating, sticky effect of thick mascara were all lost to Adara as she focused on the piano's song. When Melinda declared that she was finished with a deeply wet application of lip gloss, Adara found herself in a daze as she stood. The piano gracefully halted in a deep crescendo, followed with a few soft single notes. "She's talented, isn't she?" Melinda asked.

"Who? Faiyra?" Adara knew the answers to her questions. "Of course she is." She felt Melinda regard her for a moment, but she avoided eye contact with the black-eyed vampire. Melinda's smile lit up when something in the air changed.

"C'mon!" she exclaimed. "They're back!" Grabbing Adara's hand, she jerked her out of the bathroom, through the bedroom in which she had dressed, and back out into the large area where four other auras greeted her. Faiyra's was there, as was Evan's, but the two new ones were male.

"So this is the pretty little flower you've been raving about, Evan?" one of them said. His voice was sickeningly sweet and strong. Adara had to fight pulling away as his hand cupped her chin. His presence demanded that she look at him, so she unwillingly obliged – met with the same blackness of gaze as Melinda's, she found her mind whirling, as if it were being drained in a colander. Pulling out of his grasp, she broke his gaze, and the strange sensation halted abruptly. A soft chuckle rose goose-bumps on her arms. "Not bad, Evan, for a mortal." Her hand was taken in a gentle embrace and her knuckles were brushed with a chilling kiss. "Pleasure to meet your acquaintance, Adara – my name is Rayen." Adara stood, simply staring in any place other than his eyes. A pressure at the back of her neck played with her resistance before it grew painful. She bowed her head, as if she were acknowledging Rayen's power. _That's better…._

She wanted anything to get away – go anywhere, with anyone other than these strange creatures. Rayen disappeared from in front of her, and she found his aura entwined with Melinda's behind her. A warm hand took hers again, but this was the other presence's physical being. _I won't be as mean as my brother._ "And I am Aiden." His icy, blue eyes held something more than Rayen's had, but Aiden did not forcefully establish his power as Rayen had. He simply kissed her hand as his brother had done and released it before moving towards Faiyra.

_And that leaves…_ Evan. She took a shallow breath as he leaned in to kiss her softly on the lips.

_I'm sorry for earlier,_ he said to her in her mind. _Let me make it up to you tonight._ She didn't pull away from the kiss, but, when he broke it, she found herself amidst a loud cacophony of ear-shattering, throbbing beats, the wet, slick feel of human sweat absorbed in air, and the scent of beer, cigarettes, and the unmistakable perfume of harder, destructive substances.

Evan's hands slid down from her shoulders to her hands, taking them in his. She could sense his smile, and she found herself foxily grinning back at him. _It's been so long… since we last danced._ She couldn't help but respond to his voice in her mind, letting herself fall backwards into the music. Her hips seemed to move on their own, her spine accommodating for the extreme movement.

She could practically see the strobe lights flashing around them.

She could practically see Evan in front of her.

She could practically see the speakers shaking the floor and challenging an earthquake.

But amidst the feelings that were trying to overtake her body, as she was grinding with the man that was supposed to be the love of her life, she found that there was a part of her heart that was missing a proud city with a rugged coastline.

And maybe it wasn't just the city that she was wishing to be with… maybe it was just a few new acquaintances that she had met there… and maybe… it was one of those acquaintances in particular that she wanted to be with… one with shadowy silver eyes.

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© Silver Phoenix 117, August 2006

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**The song that Tidus was playing in his mind while at Cape Cod is 'City of Blinding Lights' by U2. If any of you know it, I'm sure you can see Adara going back to New York with that playing in the background. I can also see Tidus singing this…. I've compiled a playlist of all of the songs that inspire me while I write this. Does anyone want me to post it in the next chapter?**

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_**Review Responses:**_

_Between2Worlds: _Well… basically, all I can say is I can't wait for you to get back from vacation. I miss you! My inspiration for WLL is going down the drain, though I am trying fantastically. I just kind've sit there at my keyboard, and I try to type something. I think I've wasted five hours like that. Come back, my source of inspiration! Hope this pleased you!

_Sonora Faye: _Hahaha… 'brick-headed.' I adore the Rolling Stones. I've been listening to a lot of old school stuff lately, and it's so wonderful to rediscover that age of amazing music. Lol… yes, Adara remembers everything now, and she's in Evan's arms… I guess. Hahahha… you're completely right – this could get ugly. But Tidus is going to New York – yay!

_romancejunkie: _Aww… thanks so much! Well, the FictionPress one has two chapters now, but no one reviews there… (stupid, stuck-up FictionPress jerks…). Oh well…. How did you like WLL? Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_Lightningwriter:_ Thanks very much! Oh… I don't think that anyone would like Phoenix as much as Adara… I certainly don't. But we're going to see that she actually likes being Adara more, herself… so… haha… can't give too much away. Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_DreamlndxFantasy: _Well, thank you! I'm glad you liked Ch. XVI – it was a lot of work, and I think it was probably the best chapter that I've put up so far. Your reaction to it while reading was exactly what I was trying to get out of readers! Answer to your question: Yes – I am planning on getting this published! I have no idea when, but I really would like to complete this and get it out in bookstores. I'll probably wait for a couple of years – honestly, right now, I just don't have time to even figure out what I'd have to do to start off the process. Thanks very much for your review! Hope you liked Ch. XVII half as much as you liked Ch. XVI!

_LivinInTwilight:_ Lol… hurt Tidus? She already had before the end of Ch. XVI! You seemed so enthusiastic in your review – thanks! Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_Animals are my LIFE: _Thanks very much! Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_WinterNightWolf:_ Thanks very much – some people have commented on how slow the plot seemed to be moving before Ch. XVI, but I thought it was completely adequate. Some stories move too fast, some too slow, so I've tried my best to keep it at a good pace. Again, thank you – as I said with _DreamlndxFantasy_, I do plan on getting this published one day. Keyword: one day. In the near future… it would be very unlikely. I could never do a language major – French is not one of my strong points, but I guess we're all gifted with whatever talents we're gifted with. : ) Thanks also for the tip – I worked a little harder on the 'he said/she said' stuff in this chapter, but I do try to keep from doing that too much – I like to give my readers a challenge! And yes… flying does mess one's head up a little too much for comfort… hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_ShadeSpirit:_ Thank you! And thanks for supporting my decision to not make this a fanfiction. Exactly – it would screw it up. Aw… I like Tidus too! And you're right on target! Evan will be… pissing me and probably a bunch of you off soon, if not already. I hope that you saw the foreshadowing in this chapter about that last thing you mentioned. Thanks again! Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_Rebecca Andrews:_ OMG, THANK YOU! You have no idea how awesome it was to see your review – I've been waiting to see people like you! Haha… I'm very relieved that you've started an account, and I hope that you will continue to review DP. And again, I do plan on published. This is fantastic, because, so far, three reviews in one chapter have mentioned getting this published. God, this makes me happy. Aww… thank you so much! DP, described as that… makes my day shine. Sometimes I wish I could read this as a reader instead of an author. I wonder what I would think of it…. Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_snarphakat: _You're back! Awesome! Yeah… I was sad too, but I'd known since the beginning that she would go back to being Phoenix for a while, but, as you've seen with this chapter, she's questioning which she likes better – Phoenix or Adara? Thanks very much! Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

_AwesomePersonnel:_ Lol… well, at least I'm updating, right? Cookies are good… : ) Thanks! Hope you liked Ch. XVII!

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	18. Chapter XVIII The Matter of Trust

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A/N: Hello all…. I know that this update has taken much too long to be posted, but I'm sure that very few of you might be able to understand how busy I have been with school. Anyways, I apologize for the delay, but I just want to let you all know that I cannot guarantee when DP will be updated next. School is my priority, and DP comes after that – when I have free time and a corresponding mental mind-set, I assure you that I will sit down and write.**

**Thanks very much to everyone for the positive reviews – I sometimes read them when I'm feeling kind've down, and they make me smile. It's so nice to understand that people appreciate what I do.**

**Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!**

♥ **Always…**

**SP

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_Hartford, Connecticut_

Tidus blinked blearily as his eyes traced over the stretching highway in front of him. A soft, gentle rain sprinkled on the windshield of the pick-up truck, the windshield wipers steadily thumping as they pushed the pointillism of water droplets off of the glass surface. In the passenger seat next to him, Otis slept, one of his dark brown ears pushed up on the cloth of the seat. Casey took up most of the back cab seat, her front paws stretched out, engendering a rather strange pillow for her head. Tidus glanced back at her once before making a quick lane-change and speeding by a semi.

He exhaled slowly as he pulled away from the large truck. He didn't decrease his speed at all – the speedometer's needle was steadily remaining at eighty-seven miles per hour. The seemingly endless strip of graying tar in front of him was purely clear of traffic, the trees to the side of the road whizzing by in an intoxicating blur of muted color.

Reaching up to push his hair out of his eyes, Tidus listened to the soft melody of the rain hitting the sides of the car. He would tune in particularly to different parts of the car – where it hit the metal on the outside of his door, the water made a sharp panging sound, while the truck bed was more muted and dull. _The perks of being a vampire…._

Tidus didn't know what he was going to do when he reached New York. He didn't want to think about what Adara had done the night before. He didn't want to think about what had been done _to_ her.

_What am I doing?_

---

_"Adara?" She looked up as her name was spoken out loud. His silver eyes were just the same, shrouded somewhat by the unruly, too-long black hair. She tried to push herself off of the ground, but her limbs would not respond. He walked over to her, where she lay in the bed of soft, lush grass, and sat down behind her, pulling her backwards so that she sat between his legs, his knees bent, arms wrapping around her waist and pulling her against his chest. She sighed softly as she leaned her head back onto his shoulder, looking up into a dark sky that held not a single star._

_"I miss you," she said quietly. She was surprised to find herself warming up in his embrace. Before he had appeared, she had been as cold as the wine chillers at the fancy markets of Manhattan._

_"Adara…."_

Adara pushed away a mass of hair in her face, groggily pushing herself up onto her elbows as she raised her head from a plush pillow that lay on her forearms. Though she had been blind for what she believed to be a week or so, she could not get used to waking up without morning light filling her mind. She blinked once, but the gray fog before her did not shift hues in the least.

Her body felt sore, used… even _broken_. Her legs felt like stretching ribbons that had lost their elasticity. She groaned as she rolled to her side, her lower back erupting in soreness. Trying to sit up, she pushed herself up with her arms, but something… someone's arms held her down. She pulled away harder, but they remained firmly around her waist, bare skin on bare skin.

It was then that she realized she was completely naked.

"Get off of me!" she shrieked, slapping at the cool skin surrounding her waist. A slight, masculine groan seemed to shatter the peaceful silence of the atmosphere, but she continued to valiantly pry herself from his grasp. Turning her body into a pike position, she straightened her knees, successfully breaking the grip around her waist, thus tumbling down off of the mattress and onto plush carpet. She snatched at the sheet entangled in her legs and wrapped her body in it as if she were hastily tying a sari. Standing awkwardly, she glared at the explosions of chocolate in her vision.

"What was that for?" Evan asked sleepily. Adara crossed her arms over the sheet that was threatening to fall and pool to the floor. She heard him sit up and stand, and soon his arms were winding around her waist and pulling her close against his bare chest. She remained perfectly still, staring blankly into the gray abyss before her eyes. _Sweetie?_ Evan prodded in her mind.

Adara pulled herself away from him and ignored the feeling of anxiety that was rising in her mind. It felt as if the world were closing in on her – she needed to _breathe_.

"You're not going outside in a bed sheet." She glared up at Evan for a moment before turning around promptly and stalking in the direction of nowhere in particular.

"Watch me," she retorted.

_What is going on?_ Adara asked herself, although she wasn't expecting an answer from her consciousness. She sat, huddled against the railing of the apartment's rooftop. The icy wind that slithered between the skyscrapers and buildings in downtown New York chilled her bones, making her feel like she'd been locked in an icebox for far longer than she had been outside, contemplating what had happened the night before.

The sensations of the evening were mere shards of broken mirrors that she could only vaguely recall. She could remember dancing in a way that would have nailed a job at any strip club in Los Angeles. There had been drinks rotating in and out of her hands – she hadn't cared about the contents of any of them. Other vague flashes, like lightning sensations in her mind, caused her to shiver even more in the frozen air that felt like the atmosphere of the Alaskan tundra.

Her nerves could recall exactly how Evan's hands had slid further and further down, low slung over her hips like a pair of Calvin Klein jeans. His fangs pressing against the tender skin of her neck, grazing over her skin, Adara brought her palm up to press against her neck. Frowning, she pulled her fingers away at the sore pricks of pain that came with the touch.

"God damn," she muttered, leaning her head back until her skull met the iron wrought bars. Her hair slid over the bare skin of her shoulder, strands of it tossing around her face in the wind. She let the freezing numbness take over her mind as her thoughts spilled into a puddle of incoherence.

Adara wished she could see Manhattan's skyline on the rooftop.

---

"One day I'm just going to completely shift from blood to Starbucks and die with happy taste buds," Tidus muttered to himself as he dug around for change in his pocked. The mildly attractive barista behind the cash register did a double-take.

"Pardon me?" Tidus glanced up, his hair conveniently flopping in his eyes. Shoving it out of his vision with his non-occupied hand, his fist retreated from his jeans' pocket, and he palmed out forty-two cents.

"Nothing. This weather is making me crazy," he said amiably. The girl's blond hair was pulled back into a messy, disorganized bun – he wanted to pull out the twist and let it spill over her shoulders to warm the chill that had invaded even the cozy Starbucks atmosphere. He took a look around as he walked towards the counter where drinks were placed. Leaning against the side of a rack of coffee bean packages, he glanced out the heavily curtained windows.

Outside the window, there was a young woman shivering as she tried valiantly to hail a taxi. Two businessmen holding their sleek, black briefcases glided through the waves of people, the wind pushing them forwards. Across the street, there was a young man waiting for the streetlight to change. Tidus watched him stride onto the street, crossing the wide, diagonal white lines with a brisk pace, his worn-out black Converse slapping the pavement. His dark chestnut hair snapped in the breeze, his cheeks ruddy from the sting of the wind.

"Is that yours?" a young woman asked, interrupting Tidus' observations. He turned to meet her pale green eyes before nodding mutely and picking up his latte. The heat transferred through the protective cardboard wrap easily. He walked towards the glass door, taking a sip of the liquid with the predictable tang of coffee laced into cream. Pushing it open into a gust of wind, he walked to where his pick-up was parked and casually swung into the driver's seat, nearly landing right on top of Otis.

Glancing down at the puppy, he stuck the keys into the ignition and started the engine. "You don't get any, pup," he said bluntly, taking a sip of his latte as if to tease the young German Shepherd. While merging into traffic, Tidus punched the 'power on' button of his stereo and spun the channel dial until he found Jack's Mannequin singing 'Rescued.'

"And don't you think I wish that I could stay? Your lips give you away. I can hear it: the jet engine through the center of the storm, and I'm thinking I'd prefer not to be rescued…."

---

"I'm feeling like I might need to be near you. I feel alright, but please don't get me rescued," Adara sang, listening to her fingers create chords that reverberated in the still air of the room. The piano keys beneath her hands felt like old friends, the sharps and flats coming as naturally as running comes to a racehorse. As she opened her eyes, she felt the presence in the room shift slightly. Letting her hands fall to stillness, she turned on the piano bench and met Evan's chocolate eyes.

"Have you finished being through not talking to me?" he asked; she felt him stride closer, and, as he did so, she turned back around and pretended to piece together a few notes without actually playing anything at all. "I guess that means 'no'," he chuckled, his hands sliding onto her shoulders and toying with her hair. Though she had managed to find a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans, she could feel the coldness of his palms through the fleece that was barely keeping her warm as it was. She shivered before twisting her back so as to pry away from his touch.

The spark of anger was just faint enough for her to barely catch before it was blanketed in Evan's ability to control. She refused to look at him in the eyes, knowing that she most likely would not be able to tear her gaze away. "What's your problem?" he asked evenly.

Adara stood abruptly and stumbled around the piano bench, trying to sense the direction of the door. Evan's hand caught her arm, but she shied away from his touch, tensing. _Phoenix, what is wrong?_ he prodded insistently. She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment before pushing with her free hand at his. "Please let me go. I want to go for a walk."

"I'll go with you."

"No!" she said firmly, pushing harder at his grip on her. He finally released her, and she insanely wanted to bolt out the door with relief. However, she had no idea where that door might be. A pained expression on her face, she looked up into Evan's eyes.

"Baby, what on earth is wrong?" She almost believed the tones of concern in his voice.

"Please, can you just take me outside?" He must have complied, as he took her hand gently and walked with her to a door and opened it to reveal the telltale draft of a stairwell. Taking her down the winding steps with a slow pace, she nearly collapsed in relief when he opened a door, and the wind of the city slapped her face.

She stepped forward, stopping to glance backwards for a moment. "Thanks," she said quickly before heading out into the street. She heard the door close slowly and sighed with content.

_Hello Manhattan – how are you feeling today?_ She took a deep breath of the chilly autumn air and put her hands on her hips, trying to decide what to do with herself.

_The city says that she is feeling quite well and wants to know where you have been for the past week._ Adara nearly flew about four feet into the air at the intrusion. She knew who it once the instant she heard a gleeful yip and felt warm fur brushing her jean-clad legs. Bending down to her knees, she grinned and began stroking the soft coat. "Casey," she breathed. A few wet kisses from the older dog were stolen before Adara felt Otis leap onto her legs and bestow kisses of his own. She giggled and pushed him away from her face, only half-trying.

Looking up, she met Tidus' silver eyes with the softest of smiles.

"You got Starbucks," she said quietly, standing and reaching out her hands. He placed the cup in her hands, and she lifted it to her nose, breathing in the steam and sighing in contentment before she took a greedy sip.

"Oh, come on. If you want Starbucks get your own," he snapped playfully, snatching the cup from her fingertips that had just started to warm up. She pretended to pout for an instant before she shivered and crossed her arms. Adara felt Tidus' eyes watching her, but she couldn't manage to look back at him.

"You drove up here?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah." He paused for a moment. "Where is he?"

"Inside," she said. "I think."

"You want to go to the park?"

"Yeah."

"So you don't remember a thing about what you guys did last night?" Adara and Tidus were walking hand in hand, aimlessly meandering around the vast area of Central Park. Otis and Casey had long since disappeared, Tidus assuring her that they would come back when they were called.

"Not really… it's hazy," she said, rubbing her eyes with her free hand. "I know I didn't take anything though because I wouldn't be normal right now."

"How long do you think it will be before he introduces you to heroin again?"

"I don't know," she said. "But it doesn't matter. I don't want it anymore." Tidus stopped, and she met his eyes, her vision flooding with slate and black ink.

"Do you honestly believe that you have that sort of willpower?" She squirmed under his stare.

"I can stay clean," she said evenly. She could practically feel Tidus rolling his eyes.

"And how long was the longest you'd gone without your fix before the fire?" he asked.

"A month."

"Don't lie to me, Adara." She pulled her hand from his, crossing her arms.

"Three days," she said, turning away.

"And what were those three days like?" She sighed heavily and turned to look at him for a moment. She couldn't catch the emotions in the swirls of silver she saw in his eyes.

"They were like hell, okay?" She resumed staring angrily ahead of her, although she had no idea what at in particular. When Tidus' strong arms wrapped around her, she tried to stiffen her body, but it was to no avail. The attempt just ended up becoming a soft sigh with her leaning into his embrace, his lips softly pressing against the patch of bare skin on her neck above the hood of her sweatshirt.

_You don't understand how fragile you are._ She closed her eyes, letting his voice become her only focus, letting it lap at the shores of her mind and encase her in a sweet sense of comfort. _Your body won't be able to keep up with anything else you put into it._

"Do you not have faith in me that I can resist it on my own?" she asked out loud.

_All I'm trying to say is that Evan's not going to help or protect you at all._

_Why?_

_He's not who you believe him to be, Adara. When a human is changed, they are not the same. Evan is a predator, at this point, and he's an inexperienced one at that. If he comes home one day after not feeding, you're fair game, and you won't stand a chance against his raw power, even though it is untrained and ungraceful._

_What does this have to do with me and smack?_

_Evan wants the past returned to him. He didn't change by choice. The Phoenix of his past was a smack addict. You will most likely die if you take any more heroin, and that doesn't concern him because he knows that he can change you easily, especially if you're breaking down physically and mentally from smack._

Adara pulled out of Tidus' embrace, grateful for the fact that he didn't pull her back into his arms when she desperately needed space for a moment. "You mean to tell me that…," she scowled, not at Tidus, but at the memory from the previous night. _God damn… he could have changed me last night._

"And he's probably the reason why I can't remember anything from when we left the club to this morning. God _damn_ it!" she exclaimed, running a hand across her face and exhaling sharply. She glanced up for a moment, meeting Tidus' slate-gray eyes. A quizzical expression on her face, she asked, "Why do you care anyways?"

"What?" She felt him shift his weight from one foot to the other.

"I've known you for two days-."

"Three." She wanted to grin at him, but she couldn't physically admit the attraction on her side of their relationship first.

"Three days. I hardly know you, yet you seem to know everything about me. Why should I be trusting you?" She caught the slight smile from where he stood in front of her.

"But you do trust me." She wanted to say, "of course not," but she knew that he'd immediately be able to tell she was lying.

"I do," she said slowly. "But I don't know why."

"Does that matter?" She narrowed her eyes, staring at him.

"Of course it does!" she exclaimed. "It's not fair that you're the only one who gets to be absolutely sure of everything going on between us. I shouldn't trust you, but I do." She looked up and met his eyes. "For some reason…."

She could feel him step closer to her, and then she felt his hand picking up hers. Adara shivered only slightly when soft, warm lips pressed against her palm. She was soon being wrapped in an embrace that felt safer than anything that she'd felt with Evan in the past hours.

"I don't know you," she whispered, her arms commanding themselves and sliding to wrap around Tidus' neck. She seemed completely beyond controlling her emotions, like a hurricane that she was too weak to hold onto.

"Come back to Boston and _get_ to know me," he said, his voice kissing her neck. "Nothing's going to change here."

"But-," she started to say. However, she couldn't think of an excuse. She'd been so _happy_ before she'd come home. New York didn't feel like New York anymore. It was cold. And without smack it seemed dull. Boston however was alive with people… Maddie, Kai… Kate - falling into the lake. She smiled softly at the memory of being completely alone in the water, floating down. And then there had been Tidus, dragging her to the surface and demanding to know why she'd let herself sink. Sighing, she buried her head in Tidus' shoulder, breathing in his scent and the sweet smell of his leather jacket. "Okay," she mumbled, her smile crinkling.

She then felt his hands picking up her head, and, before she knew it, he was kissing her.

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© Silver Phoenix 117, November 2006

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**Song that they sing is 'Rescued' by Jack's Mannequin.

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**_**Review Responses:**_

_Sonora Faye: _Not a gross amount of fun yet. This chapter was a stinker to write for some reason, but I figured that Adara hanging out with Tidus for a little while more. I have some vacationing plans, but that's all I'll hint at. I'm just sick of Evan being a jerk right now. So yeah… hope you liked the chapter. How's the band coming along?

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Does "soon" count as three months later… XD Hope you liked…

_ALittleTooAddicted:_ Alaskaaaaaaa!!!!!! Hurrah… I hope it was fantastic. Yes, Evan is a jerk. I figured I just wanted to ignore him this chapter. Jerkface… he can be a jerk later on, but I'm just sick of him right now. This chapter was really… weird. XD I think I might work with Aiden some in the future, but the others are just to emphasize how jerky Evan is. Well, I hoped you liked the chapter. Maybe the next one will come faster. IlovemyschoolIlovemyschool… I just have to keep telling myself that…

_Rebecca Andrews:_ Oh good God this has taken too long… I can't wait to read your review on this… XD

_Between2Worlds: _Ugh… this chapter was a bizatch, but yeah… at least it's done. I'm so weary of it that I pretty much am just babbling in these responses… XD Get your review in soon, so I can start working on Ch. IXX WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO… almost twenty. Hurrah!

_romancejunkie: _School… royally does suck. XD Not much to say at this point… hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

_fliccolo:_ New reviwer! Hurrah! I hope I haven't lost you with my huge, ugly delay in this update… hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

_Jega:_ Yep… they're quite "icky." Hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

_WinterNightWolf:_ Aww… thanks for the compliment on DP. Music playlist… heh… I should start looking for that document. It's grown to about 120 songs something like that… I'll actually look at posting that with the next chapter. Hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

_snarphakat: _Well… that's not what I was shooting for. I guess I'll just give it away at this point. Tidus keeps track of his victims. Like, he learns their names, stuff about them – he cares. So yeah… sigh. Hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

_DreamlndxFantasy:_ Haha… I liked your description on the last chapter… it was true. It was v. v. v. frustrating, especially for me to write, but this one was even worse, just because it took so damn long. Hope you liked it!

_ShadeSpirit: _Ah! So I will have to go dig up the playlist. Aiden's my favorite of the four vamps Evan's living with. He's cool. XD Adara? Drugs? That hasn't been foreshadowed at all… of course not, how could you think such a thing? Anyways, nothing bad yet. You can chillax for a while. Hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

_sublimerockerchick:_ Thanks! Sorry for the delay in updating… one word: school. Hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

_The Wolf in the Moon:_ I won't take the hating personally. But you honestly can't expect everything in this story to be frills and pompoms, can you? Hope you liked Ch. XVIII.

_Addicted2Life:_ Aw… thanks so much! Haha… no begging please. Hope the update satisfied you. And hopefully the next one will come soon… school... The reminder helped me remember to get my derriere working. So thanks for that too.

_twilightbells: _I'm glad my story is really god. Gotta love those typos. Hope you liked Ch. XVIII!

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**Merry Thanksgiving everyone!**

**Hope you all get to stuff yourself full of carbs and fat and sugar and all that great stuff…

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	19. Chapter XIX McDonald's

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New tradition? I update on school holidays…? Seems like most of you could sit through Ch. XVIII… surprisingly. I thought it was dull, but whatever floats your boats:**

**Je vous aime, mes amis!**

♥ **Always…**

**SP

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**_Boston, Massachusetts_

"Mmm… I can feel the cholesterol clogging my arteries already," Adara said after taking a rather gluttonous bite of a greasy and otherwise revolting cheeseburger. It thrilled her to be eating McDonald's after what felt like days of driving, though in reality it had only been a few hours.

"Sorry, what was that?" Tidus asked. "Your mouth was full of twenty-first century poison." She choked back a grin as she slurped her Coke.

"You know you love it as much as I do."

"But it's threatening the immortality of my intestines." She exaggerated her scoff and took another bite, though this one not so greedy.

"Live for the moment, you old badger. Enjoy McDonald's on earth 'cause I've been told that only Burger King exists in Hell." She finished off the sandwich with a flourish of her hand, not bothering to wipe greasy fingers before pulling the wrapper off of her third cheeseburger of the evening and attacking it without quite so much vigor as she had with her first. She took a moment to savor the flavor of a patty that could never be reproduced in any other burger joint in the world.

"Have you ever taken a moment's consideration to ponder what exactly they use to make one of those things?" Tidus asked.

"Nope." She grinned and set down her sandwich. Finding her ketchup didn't prove as difficult as she'd assumed when she picked up a single french-fry. "Open up and eat this," she commanded, holding the bloodied fried potato above the table. She wondered vaguely what the two of them looked like together, sitting at a McDonald's in downtown Boston. The fry disappeared from her fingertips, and she was nearly overcome with the resurfaced desire to touch Tidus' face and memorize the exact slope of his nose, the arch of his cheekbones. She put her hands in her lap and wiped her greasy fingers on a flimsy paper napkin.

"Fried to perfection: just crunchy enough to satisfy." Adara smiled and took another sip of her Coke, letting it sit in her mouth and fizz for a moment before swallowing. She hadn't ever realized it before, but the carbonation actually stung her esophagus as it went down.

"Have you ever been in a Chinese buffet long enough to actually be told to leave because you've abused the unlimited serving privilege?" she asked.

"No, but tell me the story."

"Not much to tell… we were there for about five hours." She grinned at the memory. "I think the guy who owned the place turned the meaning of "all-you-can-eat buffet" into an oxymoron. We _hadn't_ finished eating. Lying bastards." She caught Tidus' silver glance for a moment as she picked up her cheeseburger and wolfed the rest of it down.

"I'm beginning to wonder how much of an appetite you actually have," he pretended to muse out loud. She smiled and ate a few more french-fries.

"I could bankrupt a millionaire in a week here."

"I don't doubt it."

"Why wouldn't you buy me an ice cream cone?"

"It would melt as you ate."

"Don't you know that I'm the kind of girl that lives by the saying, 'Life is uncertain – eat dessert first'?" She finished off her Coke and set her elbows on the table, proud of her fast-food consumption achievement.

"Do you want an ice cream cone, Adara?" She loved the way he said her name, the 'r' rolling off of his tongue like water rolls off of smooth rock in a waterfall to plunge down into an unfathomably deep pool of dark water. It was smooth but rough and uncontrollable at the same time. _Everything about him is like that,_ she thought to herself.

"Your stream of consciousness is so fascinating," he stated evenly. She glared up at him, embarrassed that he has picked up on her thoughts. Adara thought of all the rough, callous comebacks that she could reply to that with, but she simply held his gaze and took in the shades of silver and flecks of black of his eyes. "Would you like an ice cream cone, Adara?"

"Yes, please."

---

Tidus glanced over his shoulder at Adara as he waited for the high-school dropout across the counter mold a thick band of soft-serve into a cone of vanilla sugar, curling the top with an air of well-practiced routine. The greasy potato with a hint of ketchup taste in his mouth made him want to bite into the neck of the woman standing in line behind him so that he could wash the flavor away with the sweet nectar of warm blood, but he refrained from doing what he wanted. He'd just steal a bite from Adara's ice cream cone.

His brunette beauty sat gazing through a glass wall of which she wasn't aware, at four children playing in a set of psychedelically-colored plastic balls in the indoor playground. Adara was smiling softly to herself, her legs crossed, her raised foot jiggling up and down. He'd noticed that it was a nervous habit of hers. The battleground of food in front of her was amusing to him. She'd consumed three 'concoctions of Satan' in about four minutes. It shouldn't have surprised him that she'd want an ice cream cone to top it all off – when she'd begged him for one previously, like a small child, he hadn't believed she'd be able to eat it after her 'light dinner.' Her sapphire eyes were as dark and mysterious as the sky outside. Tidus could just barely make out a few glimmering stars through the light pollution.

"Excuse me… sir?" He turned around to see the cashier offering him the vanilla cone. Tidus took it, wondering if he could catch it before it fell were the kid to drop it. Though he had only just returned from his most recent mercenary job, he still felt achy – like having a splinter in his thumb, the nagging doubt of slow reflexes didn't suit him. He shouldn't question his supernatural ability.

He walked back to the table where Adara sat, making sure to take a quick bite off of the top of the ice cream cone.

---

"You ate part of it!" she exclaimed immediately after taking her first lick of the cone. She could sense him shrugging nonchalantly.

"Yeah… so?"

"Jerk," she muttered, busying herself with the food at hand. Her fingers itched to be at the keys of a piano again. The baby grand at Evan's apartment had felt like a lost lover. She could remember the last time she had performed. The boys' gig that night had been a rocking hit. Evan had tugged her up from the front of the crowd onto the stage for the final number.

_"Play our song with me?"_ She hadn't needed much convincing. High on smack, she was as adoring towards him as ever. She'd even cried as they'd sung together, in front of a crowded club that didn't exist.

She slowly returned to the present, but the memory was like a magnet, just like Evan was a magnet. The pull wasn't something she wanted, and resisting was difficult. She felt Tidus push at the edges of her mind and smiled softly, looking up at him.

"What are we doing after this?" she asked, letting her tongue loll around the cylindrical-molded soft-serve.

"Are you going to be able to move?"

"Jerk."

"That's twice now."  
"You deserved both of them."

"I don't care. What do you want to do?"

"Get to know you."

She felt him take her hand and stand, walking to her side and pulling back her chair. Careful to not drop her ice cream, she stood, looking up into a pool of mercury. "Come on then."

---

"We're back in your house." He was leading her through a hallway – she could feel the plush of the carpet, soft cushion, underneath the soles of her shoes.

"True." She felt like a small child playing a game of being sightless, but she knew that, if she opened her eyes, she wouldn't see.

"Where's Avery?" she asked. Tidus' hand was surprisingly warm. He was tugging her forward, but, each time she tried to catch up with him, he was somehow ahead of her the minute she moved faster.

"Out."

"Are we going to go to the bar to see Kai?"

"Later." She decided to be quiet, paying close attention to their steps. Tidus came to an abrupt halt, allowing her to falter for a moment before he caught her shoulder with an alarmingly fast reaction. She heard to softest turn of a doorknob, and, in that instant, she was left alone. "Walk in," she heard Tidus say, but his voice sounded muffled, as if her ears had been blocked.

Adara took a deep breath as she moved forward. "It smells… feels like… music," she said quietly. The room felt used and full, even though she knew in reality that it was probably on the large side, considering it was Tidus' house.

"Baby's towards your right and forward." His voice was still faint.

"What?" she asked, though she started to move in that direction. A few paces, and her hip hit something sharp. She moved her hand in front of her body, letting her fingertips brush over lacquered wood. "Oh…," she sighed, smiling and taking a few steps to her left and finding the stool where she literally slid into, permitting her fingers to glide down smooth keys and tremble over sharps and flats of an ebony she couldn't see. "Blue-jean baby," she began to sing, pressing down on memorized chords and smiling.

"L.A. lady," Tidus responded – his breath was suddenly whispering over her neck, his hands pressing against her waist.

"She was the seamstress for the band. Pretty eyes…."  
"Pirate smile." She grinned and let her left foot tap out a beat while her right controlled the pedals. "You married a music man."

"Ballerina, you must've seen her, dancing in the sand."

"Now she's in me, always with me, tiny dancer in my hand."

She stopped playing at looked up towards Tidus's eyes. His hands slid from her sides, and, just like that, he was gone again. "Tidus!"

"What?" She could hear the tease in his voice and couldn't help but grin as she turned on the piano bench. Sliding off of it, she let her body hit the floor. Rolling onto her back, she smiled up at the ceiling and let her arms lay out, spread like wings.

"I want to fly." His aura appeared beside her, his head next to hers. She raised her palm, fingertips just brushing strands of hair. She moved onto her side, her skin touching that of his cheekbone.

"Planes?"

"No."

"Wings on your back?"

"Like Icarus."

"Don't fall." She smiled and let her fingers wander, moving over the bridge of his nose. His face shifted from underneath her touch, and she was left with only air before his hand took hers. "Feel this." His skin seemed to filter into nothingness, flowing underneath her touch before it shifted and bones melted into cartilage. Feathers grew from his palm, but she was too enraptured to be frightened.

"You can do that?"

_And this…_

Warm feathers that felt like gold shivered, and, just as quickly as before, she was holding a tiny chinchilla in her hands – it would have been unlawful for her to resist burying her face in the softest cloud of fur. _Soft…._

_The girls always fall for this one._ She grinned into his coat and nuzzled the tiny bones of his ribs in this form.

_Tiny… surprise me_.

She blinked once, and she was immediately draped across the unmistakable form of a Bengal tiger, Tidus' spine pressing into her stomach, her fingers weaving into fire. _Mmmmm…_ her mind literally sighed. Her eyelashes were melting with his fur – she could practically see the stripes. On top of wound muscle, she felt powerful, but, at the recognition, she knew what would happen next without entirely comprehending it.

Paws pressing into her shoulders, pushing her into the floor, she was being crushed and knew now what was to be powerless and weak. She wasn't afraid, though.

_You trust me too much._ A warm, rough tongue licked her bare collarbone and sharp feline teeth pressed every so gently against the taught skin there. She couldn't help the shiver, and she easily picked up on the fact that he liked her reaction by the change in pressure on her shoulders and the sandpaper scratching of his tongue – heavy and rough.

_I know._

_Icarus is falling._

_I know._

When he disappeared from her senses, she sat bolt upright, her body screaming for contact. Her palms pressed into the carpet, lost for a moment before the gentlest flicker brushed her skin. Something cool and scaly slid over her left forefinger and middle finger, wrapping around her wrist before its length climbed up her arm.

Another air-kiss on her neck and she held her arm out in front of her, her empty hand tracing up the snake's body to trace a scaled hood. _Cobra._

_Très bon, ma chérie._

The square-like nose pressed against her fingertip, tongue flickering against her skin. "What's it like to smell with your tongue?" she asked quietly, stroking the smooth scales that were like a riverbed of fitted slabs of slate.

_Exactly how you see with your ears and your sense of touch._

_Venom?_

_Deadly._ She knew that he'd opened his mouth and extended his fangs – the temptation to touch them wasn't resistible. Tracing his scales backwards, she ran her fingertip along his gentle jaw line and found the hook and soft skin where the joint was. Moving upwards, she hit the extended needle-line fang, slender long and utterly frightening.

The softest hissing brushed past her ears, letting her realize what was happening. She held a cobra… a vampire in cobra-form, his body twisted around her forearms, hood flared and fangs poised at ready to inject a substance more fatal than what she voluntarily shot up in her own veins.

_Scared?_

_Maybe a little…._

_It's good that you're admitting your fear._

_How can you tell?_

_You smell of it. Slight tremor of the blood in your veins, your eyes – dark and steady. You still trust me though. _The mind-speak drew her into a dark world that didn't entirely make sense. All that she was aware of was her touch and the sound of his voice in her mind. It seemed as if reality dripped away and they were just left with their thoughts. _Why do you flirt with death, Adara?_

_It's what I do._

_And I kill. Where does that leave us, then?_

_I'm headed that way anyways._

_Why me?_

_You understand. _She heard his question before he even thought-spoke it. _And he doesn't anymore._

_What would you do if you were immortal?_

She thought about that for a moment. She could have an endless supply of heroin for her veins. She could rescue drowning sailors. She could discover a cure for cancer. She could defeat AIDS. She could completely remove Evan from her life. She could somehow fix her eyes and see again. The possibilities were endless.

But at this moment, she took in the fact that she held Tidus, her fingertip resting on one of his lethal fangs, his body twisted around her arms. In fact, she realized, it was really him holding her, though his form was smaller than hers. They were upside-down, turnaround, not what they seemed, opposite in fact.

_I'd kiss a cobra._

_You are immortal. Your name, your spirit - undying_

_I know._

As she kissed him, he shifted and the world returned, flipped right. She was the one being held, now. Cool to warm lips, scales to flush skin.

_Fangs to fangs_, he smiled.

_Ashes to ashes.

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_© Silver Phoenix 117, January 2007

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"**Tiny Dancer" by Elton John

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**_**Review Responses:**_

_ThePuceOlive: _Haha… thanks:

_missmangosuave:_ Well I hope you've compulsively checked for this update, and I apologize for the intense delay. Still chugging along… slowly. School's just uber-busy, you know?

_fliccolo:_ Thanks for being so understanding. It helps… : And you just reminded me of Starbucks, and it just so happens to be a gross hour in the middle of the night… sigh… Starrrrbuuuucccckkkkssss….

_starsinthetwilight:_ Nope, you've never reviewed before, but hurrah for reviewing now! Well… this doesn't really have to do w/ Amelia at all, but I was inspired by her books to start writing my own vampire fiction… so… and FanFiction gets a lot more traffic than FictionPress… so I just stuck my story here. : And you're right. Tidus does rule.

_Sonora-Margaret:_ Was this chapter not fun? McDonald's and shape-shifting: How are the songs coming along?

_Between2Worlds: _Ahh… we haven't talked in forever. Life equals busy. Not fun. And you are in for a nasty surprise when Evan's not long-gone as you've so quickly assumed. Only put-off for the time being because I was sick of him. : Can't wait for your review… NEXT ONE'S FREAKING XX!!!

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Thanks! Hope you liked Ch. XIX!

_ShadeSpirit: _PatD! Performs terribly live. I think they're pretty decent on their album, but… I dunno. I wouldn't pay to see one of their concerts. Jack's Mannequin is okay too – I really like "Rescued." Playlist… has gotten behind. It's nearing 200 songs. Blahhhh… hope you liked Ch. XIX!

_Lightningwriter: _Awww… glad you liked Ch. XVIII. It was hard to write. This one was easier, but they just produce so slowly these days. I blame school. How about an end-of-January gift:

_sublimerockerchick:_ Thanks so much for the positive review! Hope you liked Ch. XIX!

_snarphakat:_ Hurray! Update! Pick 'em ups are sexy, are they not? Tidus's cars are the Silverado (navy), a red Mustang (haven't decided on the year yet… probably one of the old models or the 2005/2006 – but definitely black), and a black Lamborghini (wooooooo crazy doors – my neighbor has one… XD). Plus he has a motorcycle, but I really don't know much about them…. Hope you liked Ch. XIX!

_WinterNightWolf:_ No one likes Evan! XD Playlist is reaching 200… Oo

_Dani:_ I'm glad you still like it: Thanks very much for the review!

_ALittleTooAddicted:_ A little bit of a raving in this review, no? I'm not really sure how to respond… oh well… hope you liked Ch. XIX!

_Rebecca Andrews:_ I'm reminded every time I do this that your reviews simply glow. I can't wait to hear what you have to say about this one, and, damn it, I want to read "Six." Maybe it'll be a weekend present? We go on break on the second of February… but it's your story. You update when you wish. I just update when I actually have something to update with. XD Love always!

_DreamlndxFantasy: _Haha… I'm glad you liked that part. It's really nice to know exactly what sentences/paragraphs readers like in a chapter. Hope you liked Ch. XIX!

_Addicted2Life:_ : Again… another review that I don't really know how to respond to. All I can say is, thanks, and I hope you liked Ch. XIX!

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	20. Chapter XX Red Pumps

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Oh man… it's been so long since I last updated. I'm ashamed of myself. This chapter was very difficult to get started. Obviously, this is Chapter XX. Also, DP has 200-plus reviews at the moment and 10,000-plus hits. Whoa!**

♥ **SP

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**_Boston, Massachusetts_

Adara twirled a few strands of her hair around her forefinger, tugging softly and pulling as the strands fell back into place, just brushing her right ear. The rest of her wet hair hung limply across her shoulder blades, the ends dripping and dampening the plush carpet underneath her toes. She'd survived her latest shower without a single blooming bruise. Now wrapped in a thick towel, she stood, coiling her hair and wishing that Avery were there with her to help her get dressed. The closet she stood inside of seemed like a universe that she had to navigate without any positioning coordinates.

_Tidus?_

_Hm?_ She smiled at his voice inside her mind. The connection they held mentally felt, to her, safe and reliable, something she could trust. He wouldn't be able to disappear from her.

_Where's Avery?_

_Headed upstairs._

She'd wanted more of an excuse to talk to him. Being alone made her feel nervous and worried. Even though her conscious had reminded her repeatedly that Tidus wouldn't allow Evan to find her, that Evan most likely had no clue as to where she was, not having Tidus near her unnerved her. He'd told her to "_chill out here for a while."_

" _I've got something I have to take care of. Avery'll be back soon,"_ he had said, pressing a soft kiss on her forehead as he embraced her small frame.

She sighed out loud and looked upwards, as if she could crane her neck and see what rested on the shelves she touched with her hands. The woodwork was smooth beneath her palms, the grain's texture hardly noticeable.

"Adara?" Avery's songbird voice floated into the closet, instigating a bright smile on Adara's face. She turned to catch the quick spark of Avery's evergreen eyes.

"You're late," she teased. Avery's soft touch, tugging at her damp hair, was a comfort, much like a mother's gentle caress. Adara mentally memorized the moment, the secure feeling washing over her. After embedding it in her mind, she looked back into Avery's eyes.

"Yes, well, you'll thank me for it," Avery stated. "I bought you a pair of shoes on my way back from the market." Adara giggled at the idea of someone buying _her_ anything, besides a drink at a bar.

"You're kidding, right?"

"No. You can have them after you're dressed and your hair is dried." Adara reached out her arm to pass along the shelves on her left, her fingertips recognizing denim and corduroy.

"Pants?"

"Yes. Tops are the two shelves above that one." She closed her eyes and envisioned walking into the closet. She was two paces from the doorframe.

"I can remember that." Avery chuckled.

"I hope so. Eventually, I'm going to refuse to help you get dressed." Adara tossed a glance in her direction and shook her head.

"Not even to save me from a color coordination crisis?"

"Only if it's going to kill someone…," she laughed. "Underwear, bras, and socks: the next shelf to the right of that one. Dresses and skirts are the first shelf that you're past."

"And on my right?" Adara could feel the smile generated at this question.

"Shoes."

"The whole side?" She looked to herself, imagining a wall covered with stilettos, flats, pumps, and sandals. Sighing in bliss, she raised her hand and reached, her skin coming in contact with slick leather. "Ooh," she breathed. "What color are these?" The patent leather pumps had a simple rounded toe and wedged heels.

"They're bright red, but I don't think you'll want to wear those while walking into downtown Boston."

"You have no idea what my feet have been through," Adara joked, recalling a particularly nasty pair of knee-high leather boots with a deadly toe. However, she set the shoe back in its place on the shelf.

"I'm sure," Avery mused. Adara sensed her plucking items from the shelves behind her. She turned as Avery tugged her arm and guided her hand to touch three separate pieces individually. "Sleeveless cotton gray dress, navy cashmere elbow-length sleeved sweater, or this red v-neck t-shirt?" Adara traced the soft cashmere sweater's hem, and, even though it was enticingly tempting, the luxury of the material scared her a bit. She laughed at her own instinct, but she liked how the dress' skirt flowed.

"Gray dress, please," she smiled. "Does this closet have a long-sleeved shirt that I can wear underneath it?" Avery moved her gently closer to the shoe shelves and rummaged around for a moment before placing a lightweight piece in Adara's hand.

"That should work the way I think you intend it to. It's black." Avery moved past Adara, returning to press a bra and underwear into her other open hand. Adara hoped desperately that the knot she'd tied on her towel wouldn't loosen too much without her holding it in place. When Avery draped the dress over Adara's shoulder, she couldn't help but smile at what she imagined her profile looked like at the moment. "I'm going to go grab a hairdryer. Put these on, and then we'll find some shoes."

"Not the red pumps? They'd be so cute," she playfully whined.

"I'll introduce you to the wonder of ballet flats, but you can decide after I've shown you some others in here," Avery said amiably as she walked out of the closet.

Feeling cold without Avery's warm presence, Adara moved out of the closet and into the bedroom, setting down the clothing on the floor and letting her towel fall at her feet. Stepping into her underwear and snapping up her bra was simple for her, even without her eyes. _It's not like with the shower when I'm putting my clothing on – I could have done this with my eyes closed when I could see._ When she slid the long-sleeved shirt on and followed that with the dress, she twirled around on the balls of her feet, swishing the skirt as if she were four years old.

"Very cute," Avery commented, her smile radiating from her position a few paces in front of her. Adara was grateful that she was beginning to be able to recognize where people were in reference to her own location because of their voices and auras. She doubted that Tidus would ever be oblivious enough for her to run smack into him, but, nevertheless, it would be embarrassing with anyone into which she ran. She finally ceased turning, halting to look into Avery's deep forest eyes.

"What now?" she inquired, smiling softly. The dress made her feel like a little girl in bright sunshine, playful as ever. Avery gently took Adara's wrist in on of her hands, her palms warm against Adara's bare skin.

"Now… we do your hair." Adara giggled as Avery led her onto the cool tiles of the bathroom, her laughter resonating off of the walls with a different tone than it did in the carpeted bedroom. These small differences that she noted pleased her. _It's getting more comfortable._

"Can I do it after we've gotten it dried?" Adara asked, pondering in her mind.

"What are you thinking?" Avery asked, moving to plug in the hairdryer.

"A side ponytail with a red ribbon," she said, wondering if the waves in her hair would survive the heat of the dryer. "Do you think there's a red ribbon somewhere around here?" Avery now stood behind her. Adara could picture her standing like a soldier prepared to attack, the hairdryer raised in her hand like a gun. She smiled to herself at the image.

"I could start a business with all of the ribbons I have stashed around here." With that statement, Avery turned on the hairdryer, and Adara was lost in the heated commotion. As her hair was tugged and brushed, slowly but surely drying, she closed her eyes.

_Are you almost done?_ she asked mentally, wondering if Tidus would respond a second time. Her hands itched to come into contact with his skin, to touch his hands, his face, to run her thumb over his knuckles and imagine what those hands had done in two millennia.

_You really want to know?_ She ignored the intrusion and focused purposefully on what she'd just asked. _Almost. Avery says you're most likely hell bent on a pair of shoes that will make me drive you to Kai's instead of walking._

_I've been in a car too much already today,_ she stated, recalling how claustrophobic the pick-up truck had been, even with the windows down.

_How about one without a roof?_ His voice in her mind was slightly teasing, and she couldn't fathom why. It irritated her slightly.

_You have more than one car?_ She didn't even know how much a car cost, but she was sure that one person having more than one was a little ridiculous.

_I have four, sweetheart, if you count the motorcycle._

_That's absurd,_ she said, knowing that he probably had heard what she'd already thought previously.

_They have their respective purposes. For now, finish up with Avery. I'll be home soon._

"Adara?" Avery's voice was laughing, teasing. "Adara?" She opened her eyes and turned, realizing for the first time that the hairdryer had been silenced.

"What?" she asked, knowing that she had reason to be embarrassed. Avery chuckled once more and set down the hairdryer on the counter, the sound quick and sharp.

"You were talking to Tidus, weren't you?"

"Yes," she said, hesitantly. "Why?"

"I've said your name about ten times," Avery smiled, her fingertips brushing over Adara's lower abdomen, tickling her.

"Hey! Stop that!" she giggled, bending in two and backing up to avoid Avery's hands. "It's not my fault he's such a distraction!" she said, recovering and resuming a straight stance. She bashfully pushed up the sleeves on her shirt to her elbows. She sensed Avery shaking her head lightheartedly before she led Adara back into the bedroom, muttering, "Ribbons, ribbons, ribbons…."

"We manage to get across Fifth Avenue without killing ourselves, and Lilly's voting that we five-finger discount at Saks. Cameron still, at that point, is missing, and Whitney keeps griping about how she has to work in the morning at the café." Adara's voice was warm with memory, smiling as she did while she told the story to Avery, waving her hands around in the air as if she were conjuring a magic spell to create an image of New York City.

"Keep in mind, I'm dressed in green fishnets, this gaudy old feather boa, and a bright pink sunhat. Lilly has on a bright orange sweatshirt, and we just look so obnoxious around all of these pin-thin windbag models and business women wearing black, black, black."

Tidus smiled as he appeared in the kitchen, leaning against the stainless steel refrigerator. Avery glanced up from Adara's tale and moved as if to vocally acknowledge him, but he held up a silent hand, nodding towards Adara. Avery's green eyes smirked as she shook her head.

_She looks like a four year-old recounting the story of her first trip to the ocean. _Avery smiled at his comment, though she kept her gaze on Adara.

_Where were you?_ she asked him.

_Over at Nathan's. He wants me to do another job out in Seattle._

_You're going to leave so soon? You just got back from L.A. _Avery still didn't look at him. Adara had paused for a breath and to pop a grape in her mouth from the bowl in front of her.

_Yeah, well… I also convinced Matthew to stop by tonight at Kai's. You should come by later on. _He laughed to himself as Avery tried to conceal her blush. _You know you want to,_ he teased. _We haven't played together since March, and you keep avoiding him, thinking that it's for the best._

_It is. _She crossed her arms, refusing to look at him.

_Go back with him to Atlanta for a while, Avery. There's nothing wrong with what you feel._

"Anyway, so Cameron dodges this _flying_ BMW and hands us our hot dogs that we sent him out for an hour before that. But as Lilly picks up hers, she's like, "What the hell, Cam? Did you snort up all of the mustard from this hot dog?" And it turns out, at least according to him, that some dude who was fucking flying high back near the stand had paid him twenty bucks to do it." Adara was grinning off into space, obviously lost in her own thoughts. She tossed a few more grapes into her mouth before muttering to herself. "That must have burned like hell…."

Tidus grinned at Avery as she shook her head at him. He pushed himself upright and moved behind Adara, wrapping her arms around her waist and pinning her in the chair so quickly that she didn't have time to yelp before she was completely ensnared. "Tidus!" she exclaimed indignantly as he pressed his lips against her jawbone and squeezed her lightly in a hug. Pushing against his arms, she tried to turn around to face him, saying as she attempted without result, "You're going to be the death of me, you know? I think I lost about five years of my life right there. Why didn't you say something? I didn't even notice you coming into the room. Where _were you?_" she rushed, all in one breath. She was still stuck, but she didn't seem to notice, as she was still trying to turn around in the chair.

"God, woman," he said, grinning. Before she could say another thing, he caught her jaw in his palm and turned her head to plant a deep, silencing kiss on her perfect mouth. Pulling away, he looked down into her wide, sapphire eyes and smirked. "You'd talk the head off of Satan."

"Let me go," she demanded, twisting in his arms and pushing at his hands with her own.

"You know you're terrible at this whole escaping thing," he teased, kissing her collarbone and sensing her resistance faltering. He moved his head just enough so that her elbow wouldn't collide with his temple, glancing up at Avery who was rolling her eyes at the two of them.

"God, you two are awful," she joked. "I'm going to go put something else on."

"So you're coming?" Tidus inquired, triumphant.

"Not because of you," Avery tried to say venomously. She pretended to storm up the stairs outside the kitchen, but he heard her steps soften and turn into light springs.

"Where's she going?" Adara asked, recapturing his attention. He looked down at her gray tunic-like dress, covering a simple black long-sleeved shirt. She'd pushed the sleeves up to her elbows, her bare forearms stretched out to snatch a few grapes from the bowl on the counter.

"She's coming to the bar tonight," he replied, watching her bare legs swing in mid-air. The veins in her ankles showed apparently through her translucent mortal skin, but he pulled away his gaze to her face before his thoughts got the better of him. She was smiling at him, still swinging her legs.

"Are we going to wait for her?" Her waving brown hair was messily tied at the left side of her neck with a wide red ribbon. He wanted to tug at one of its tails and see her hair tumble down her shoulders, but he kept both of his arms wrapped around her waist. _You look so pretty._

"That's a terrible way to stay on the track of a conversation, but thank you." Tidus listened to her thoughts tumble around his expression, trying to read his eyes.

"No, we're not going to wait for Avery. She'll drive herself there later when she's changed," he said. She'd relaxed in his arms at this point, leaning comfortably against his chest.

"So are we going?" she asked.

"You need shoes." She rolled her eyes and pushed him away, finally freeing herself and hopping onto the floor.

"I went there barefoot before, but we found some shoes anyways," she said, bowing to her knees as she bent over, her hand searching along the wall. He could have easily picked the pair of bright red pumps for her, but he let her search for and discover them on her own. He wasn't complaining about the view of her dress riding up her thighs.

Adara jumped up with the shoes in hand, smirking at him. "You were staring," she stated, stepping forward and poking a finger into his chest accusingly. He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Caught me red-handed." She took a step closer, pressing her body against his and looking up at him as her empty hand pressed against his hip and began to move upward.

"How shall I punish you?" she asked, her lips full and inviting. He caught her wrist swiftly, pulling it away from where it tempted his every immortal nerve.

"Later. You'll have more to punish me for by then, most likely." He stepped away from her, still holding her wrist. Her eyes emptied into a frown, still looking up at him with a bit of a confused stare. "If you keep doing that, we aren't going to make it there, and Kate and Maddie both want to see you." She sighed playfully and moved to walk with him as he led her out of the kitchen and towards the garage.

Though it had grown dark since he'd left the house, he didn't turn on the lights. Avery's smart little Volkswagen Jetta occupied the first bay in the garage, but he led Adara past it, pulling out of his jeans' pocket the keys to his black Mustang. Sweeping open the door, he watched Adara hesitate forward, her hand reaching for the headrest, her other still holding the pair of shoes. When she finally slid into the leather seat, she looked up at him with an odd expression on her face.

"I'm afraid I'm going to do something stupid on accident and ruin your car," she said. Tidus chuckled and slammed the door, walking around the car and sliding into the driver's seat. The door opened with a quick thought of his as he started the engine. Adara's hands were clasped in her hands, white knuckled and stiff.

"Why are you nervous?" he asked, smirking while he backed out onto the driveway and turned into the road, barely hesitating before hitting fifty. Adara slammed into the back of her seat, her hands groping for something else to clutch.

"That's why!" she exclaimed accusingly, snapping at him, her legs braced. "You're going to crash into something." The wind tossed the loose strands of hair that had escaped her ponytail and muted her voice.

"Adara," Tidus grinned, picking up speed before he really did have to slow down with the city streets. "I've never crashed a car before."

"Well, then you'll get pulled over." He watched her eyes dart back and forth, as if they could see every tree whizzing by next to the road. The wind slapping their faces was the crisp smack of autumn, cool and biting. Adara, _of course_, didn't wear a jacket, and her shivers were apparent as they entered downtown Boston. He placed a hand on her arm, rubbing up and down for a few seconds before slowing down into the traffic.

The neon lights were beginning to light up against the fall of night, gleaming and reflecting on the many glass windows that lined the street. "Fuck!" he snapped, braking at a red light and turning to look into the back seat of the convertible. Seeing nothing but empty seats, he turned back around and slammed his fist into the steering wheel, leaving a slight dent in it. He swore again in his mind and pulled it gently back into shape. Adara looked at him, alarmed.

"What?" she asked. Her body was turned to face the right side of the street. She'd been watching the passing shadows for a few minutes now. He liked the way the nightlights shone in her wide, dark eyes.

"I forgot something." He drove forward when the light changed, speeding down a few blocks before coming to an abrupt halt in front of Kai's bar, leaning over the car to open Adara's door and push her gently. "Just step out and up onto the sidewalk. It's right there." She looked back at him, standing up and gently pressing the door closed, her shoes in hand.

"Will you come ba-?" she started to ask.

"Yeah. I have to go get something. Go ahead in there." Waiting for her to step back away from the car, he held his foot on the brake, still looking straight into her eyes. "I promise," he chuckled at her uncertainty. "It's right behind you this time." She turned her head just enough to give herself the expression that told him, _You're going to have bloody hell in your hands if you're lying._ He shook his head, pressing a last thought into her mind before merging back into the street and heading back towards the house: _On my honor, sweetheart._

---

Adara turned around, sensing that Tidus had left and stepped forward on her bare feet. The grimy concrete encouraged her to get onto the sidewalk and brush off the soles of her feet, stepping into the pumps. She smiled to herself with the added height and walked forward quickly, not feeling any people around her. Her right arm reached out, she found brick and mortar against her fingertips and slowly, she felt her way to the left, discovering an alcove and a door. She grinned, pushing it open and breathing in the warm, friendly air of the pub.

"Adara!" Kai's voice rang over the clamor that enveloped her in a familiar embrace. She continued to smile as she walked forward, more confidently before she nearly tripped over a familiar canine body.

"Renee!" she exclaimed, spilling down onto the floor to run her hands through the Golden Retreiver's silky sunshine coat. She allowed Renee a few slobbery kisses before she stood up again, meeting Kai's warm honey eyes. His strong arms picked her up in a tight hug, setting her down only after she lost her breath.

"Kate was just talking about you and how Maddie wanted to see you," he said, leading her to a barstool next to Kate's familiar sweet aura.

"Is she here?" Adara asked, smiling at Kate's tea-colored eyes and putting her elbows on the bar. She felt giddy in the bar's atmosphere. It was crowded tonight, she could tell, bustling like an early-morning café in New York.

"Sam's bringing her by later tonight," Kate said, pausing, Adara imagined, to take a sip from her beer. "Where did you go with that guy you left with last night?"

"Actually," Adara said slowly, wishing Evan had never come back from New York, "I went back with him to New York. Tidus came and got me early this afternoon."

Kate's puzzlement was apparent before Adara realized that she had no idea that Kai, Tidus, and Evan were vampires and didn't have to travel by car or plane. _Fuck!_ She heard Kai laugh mentally and looked forward across the bar to sense him moving around, preparing drinks.

_It's okay. Just say you slept a lot._

"That was a lot of driving, then," Kate said.

"I slept a lot," Adara said, hoping she didn't sound too ridiculous. Looking back at Kai for a second, she couldn't find his eyes. _How many times has that happened? _she asked.

_Probably too many. She knows we drive fast, though._

_You too! I thought Tidus was going to flip us around some of the turns._

"Adara, do you want anything to drink?" Kai asked, his eyes finally meeting hers.

"Please?" she whined, wishing he wouldn't follow the law tonight.

"No." She felt him cross his arms, glaring at her, making her feel like a child. She huffed, turning and looking at Kate. The tea-eyed mother laughed.

"Don't look at me, Adara. He'd probably stop giving me free beer if I shared with you." Adara turned back to pout at Kai.

"Tidus would let me drink something," she said confidently, although she wasn't sure of that at all. She immediately regretted it when strong arms wrapped around her waist and a chuckle vibrated against her back.

"Would I now?" Tidus teased, holding her against his taut, muscular body. She shivered, turning to look at him with her eyes.

"Yes, you would," she stated.

"I don't know," he mused, nuzzling her neck and tickling her sides.

"Stop it," she growled, finding herself trying to pry him off of her for the second time that evening. Exasperated with the threesome, she ceased struggling and crossed her arms. "Fine," she snapped. "I'll just find someone in here who _is_ willing to buy me a beer."

"Here, sweetheart." A glass clanked on the bar in front of her, and, before either Tidus or Kai could snatch it away, Adara grasped it and chugged a Cosmopolitan. She grinned, setting down the empty glass, smirking at Avery as her throat burned delightfully.

"Thanks."

"What the hell, Ave?" Kai asked. Adara couldn't help but laugh at her mental image of Avery, standing next to him behind the bar, crossing her arms and pushing him in the chest. Tidus was laughing against Adara's back; she could practically see his mercury eyes teasing Kai.

"When did you get here?" she asked her green-eyed friend.

"Long enough ago to make you that and sneak around Kai's perception," she teased. "When's Matthew coming?" she asked.

_Matthew?_ Adara asked silently. Tidus continued to hold her, his chin resting in the hollow between her collarbone and her shoulder.

_A friend of ours._

"God," Kate muttered. "No one told me we were having a fucking family reunion tonight!"

"Kate," Avery said, her voice singing with humor that Adara couldn't quite understand. "You flirt with Kai tonight. Leave Matthew for me." Adara barely contained a snort of laughter at the prompt awkwardness she felt between Kate and Kai.

"I like the sound of that," a rich masculine voice said, entering the conversation.

"Matthew!" Avery exclaimed. Adara watched the shadows in front of her for a moment before her vision was flooded with coppery blue, heated and sparked with glass-like shards of starlight. She stiffened in Tidus' arms, put on edge with the raw _power_ she saw in those eyes. She tried to break his gaze, to look away, but he held her eyes captive, the blue seeming to run through every crevice of her mind in the mere space of one of her heartbeats. Adara felt violated when her vision returned to gray.

Although she knew in her heart that Tidus and Kai were each individually more powerful than this newcomer, she recognized something she hadn't felt around either of them. This Matthew _scared_ her, and she didn't like it one bit.

_Adara…._ Tidus' voice snaked into her mind in a separate world from the conversation taking place. _What's wrong?_

_I feel like he just raped my mind._

_Why does he scare you?_

_I'm not… his eyes aren't normal. _He squeezed her lightly, pressing a soft kiss against her cheek.

_I'm right here. Don't be scared of him._

"Tidus," Matthew's voice laughed. "You haven't introduced me to your pretty new girlfriend."

"Matthew, this is Adara." Tidus' voice next to her ear was a comfort, reassuring and protective. Adara was grateful to have his arms around her waist, his chin still pressed into her shoulder.

"And I'm not his girlfriend," she piped up.

"Oh?" Matthew's voice struck a note that triggered a brisk and faint memory. She broke out into a grin and recalled just where she'd seen those striking blue eyes before. "Then just who, exactly, are you?" he asked, his words expressing that he was remembering the same night back in New York City. Adara slammed her fist into the bar, smirking at Matthew.

"I am the girl who is going to out-drink you tonight!"

* * *

© Silver Phoenix 117, March 2007

* * *

**And your surprise for the 200 reviews/10,000 hits/20 chapters:**

**THE PLAYLIST!**

Let Me Go (Rock Version) – 3 Doors Down **(Tidus)**

Walk This Way – Aerosmith **(Adara)**

Ironic – Alanis Morissette **(Adara)**

She's Half – The American Analogues **(Avery)**

Breathe (2AM) – Anna Nalick **(Adara)**

Hardcore Days & Softcore Nights – Aqueduct** (Tidus & Kai)**

The First Song – Band of Horses **(Kai)**

Brian Wilson – Barenaked Ladies **(Tidus)**

Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles **(Adara)**

Penny Lane – The Beatles **(Adara)**

Girl – Beck **(Tidus)**

Diamond Dogs – Beck **(Adara)**

Piano Man – Billy Joel **(Kai)**

No Rain – Blind Melon **(Kate)**

Buckets of Rain – Bob Dylan **(Tidus)**

Fools Rush In – Bow Wow Wow **(Adara & Kate)**

A Whole New World – Brad Kane and Lea Salonga **(Tidus & Adara)**

The Bitch of Living – The Cast of Spring Awakening **(Evan)**

For What It's Worth – Buffalo Springfield **(Tidus)**

Out Tonight – Daphne Rubin-Vega **(Adara)**

Without You – Daphne Rubin-Vega & Adam Pascal **(Tidus & Adara)**

Peace Train – Cat Stevens **(Kai)**

Invisible – Clay Aiken **(Kai)**

The Scientist – Coldplay **(Adara)**

Don't Panic – Coldplay **(Tidus)**

Yellow – Coldplay **(Adara)**

Kingdom Come – Coldplay **(Tidus & Kai)**

My Sacrifice – Creed **(Tidus)**

Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – Crosby, Stills & Nash **(Tidus)**

Crush – Dave Matthews Band **(Tidus)**

Grey Street – Dave Matthews Band **(Adara)**

Where Are You Going – Dave Matthews Band **(Adara)**

Marching Bands of Manhattan - Death Cab for Cutie **(Tidus & Kai)**

Your Heart Is An Empty Room – Death Cab for Cutie **(Adara)**

Crooked Teeth – Death Cab for Cutie **(Tidus)**

You Gotta Be – Des'Ree **(Kate)**

American Pie – Don McLean **(Kai)**

Barely Breathing – Duncan Sheik **(Tidus & Kai)**

Little Miss S. – Edie Brickell & New Bohemians **(Adara)**

Tiny Dancer – Elton John **(Adara)**

Wild Child – Enya **(Adara)**

Crazy for This Girl – Evan & Jaron** (Tidus & Kai)**

Here's To The Night – Eve 6 **(Evan)**

Your Hand In Mine – Explosions In The Sky **(Tidus)**

If God Made You – Five For Fighting **(Tidus)**

Go Your Own Way – Fleetwood Mac **(Kate & Kai)**

Best of You – Foo Fighters **(Tidus)**

Where'd You Go – Fort Minor **(Adara)**

Build Me Up Buttercup – The Foundations **(Tidus & Kai)**

How to Save a Life – The Fray **(Tidus)**

Must Be Dreaming – Frou Frou **(Adara)**

Natural's Not In – Gang Of Four **(Avery, Kate, & Adara)**

Name – The Goo Goo Dolls **(Evan)**

Black Balloon – The Goo Goo Dolls **(Evan & Adara)**

Acoustic #3 – The Goo Goo Dolls **(Tidus)**

Iris – The Goo Goo Dolls **(Evan & Tidus)**

Big Machine – The Goo Goo Dolls **(Tidus)**

Can't Let You Go – The Goo Goo Dolls **(Tidus)**

Shakedown Street – Grateful Dead **(Kate)**

Here (In Your Arms) – Hellogoodbye **(Tidus)**

Rapture – iiO **(Adara)**

Speeding Cars – Imogen Heap **(Adara)**

Goodnight and Go – Imogen Heap **(Adara)**

Rescued – Jack's Mannequin** (Tidus)**

Fire and Rain – James Taylor **(Tidus)**

Long Ago and Far Away – James Taylor **(Kate & Kai)**

Copperline – James Taylor **(Adara)**

I'm Still Here – John Rzeznik **(Tidus)**

Heartbeats – José Gonzalez **(Tidus)**

What I Wouldn't Do – Justincase **(Tidus)**

Without You – Justincase, Featuring Michelle Branch **(Tidus & Adara)**

Partisan – Katell Keineg **(Kai)**

Mr. Brightside – The Killers **(Tidus)**

When You Were Young – The Killers **(Tidus)**

Suddenly I See – KT Tunstell **(Kate & Adara)**

There She Goes – The La's **(Adara)**

You and Me – Lifehouse **(Tidus)**

Everything – Lifehouse **(Tidus)**

Stay – Lisa Loeb & Nine Stories **(Adara)**

Do You Believe In Magic? – Lovin' Spoonful **(Adara)**

Music – Madonna **(Adara)**

She Will Be Loved – Maroon 5 **(Kate)**

3 AM - Matchbox 20 **(Kai)**

Bitch – Meredith Brooks **(Adara)**

Breathe – Michelle Branch **(Adara)**

All You Wanted – Michelle Branch **(Adara)**

Miracles Happen – Myra **(Adara)**

Torn – Natalie Imbruglia **(Adara)**

Promiscuous – Nelly Furtado & Timbaland **(Adara)**

Ceremony – New Order **(Avery)**

You Get What You Give – New Radicals **(Kate & Adara)**

Absolutely (Story of a Girl) – Nine Days **(Lilly)**

Spirit In The Sky – Norman Greenbaum **(Kai)**

Wonderwall – Oasis **(Tidus)**

Suffer for Fashion – Of Montreal **(Adara)**

Time To Dance – Panic! At The Disco **(Adara)**

Lying Is the Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off – Panic! At the Disco **(Evan)**

Tiger – Paula Cole **(Adara)**

Me – Paula Cole **(Adara)**

Jeremy – Pearl Jam **(Kate)**

Such Great Heights – The Postal Service **(Adara)**

Throwing Rocks With A Smile – Rachel McCartney **(Tidus)**

Fast Cars and Freedom – Rascal Flatts **(Kai)**

Fidelity – Regina Spektor **(Avery)**

At the Beginning – Richard Marx & Donna Lewis **(Tidus & Adara)**

Show Me Love – Robyn **(Kate & Adara)**

Fallen – Sarah McLachlan **(Adara)**

Sweet Surrender – Sarah McLachlan **(Adara)**

Broken – Seether (Featuring Amy Lee) **(Tidus & Adara)**

Caring Is Creepy – The Shins **(Tidus)**

New Slang – The Shins **(Tidus)**

The Only Living Boy In New York – Simon & Garfunkel **(Adara)**

1979 – Smashing Pumpkins **(Kai)**

It's Beginning to Get to Me – Snow Patrol **(Tidus)**

Chocolate – Snow Patrol **(Tidus)**

Caterpillars (Acoustic) – The Spill Canvas **(Adara)**

What Ever Happened – The Strokes **(Kate & Kai)**

Only Hope – Switchfoot **(Kai)**

She's So High – Tal Bachman **(Tidus & Kai)**

Never Let You Go – Third Eye Blind **(Tidus)**

City of Blinding Lights – U2 **(Adara)**

Ordinary Day – Vanessa Carlton **(Adara)**

Everything You Want – Vertical Horizon **(Tidus)**

The Freshmen – The Verve Pipe **(Evan)**

I Am For You – Waking Ashland **(Tidus)**

The Melody of a Fallen Tree – Windsor For The Derby **(Tidus)**

I'mma Shine – YoungBloodZ **(Adara & Avery)

* * *

**_**Review Responses:**_

_sublimerockerchick: _Awh, thanks! I know that the dialogue can get confusing sometimes, especially when I have them mind-speaking, but remembering that every time a new line begins means the speaker alternates might help. That's how I write them, so maybe that'll help? Hope you liked Ch. XX!

_ShadeSpirit: _Haha, I liked that part too. It was very fun to write. Holidays means when I'm not at school… breaks, I guess. Thanks, and hope you liked Ch. XX!

_Rebecca Andrews: _Awh, I'm still waiting on SIX, but I'll be patient, of course. Haha… glad you liked the feel of XIX. Hope everything's well with you – we haven't conversed in a while!

_fliccolo: _Thanks for the review! Hope you liked Ch. XX.

_Sonora-Margaret: _Haha, I love McDonald's. Hope everything's going well!

_ALittleTooAddicted: _Awwhh… I love chinchillas too. I once went to a zoo where a zookeeper held one in his arms, and he let me hold her for a little bit. She was soooo soft! And tigers are one of my most favorite animals. I'm glad you agree with me on those three! The end of XIX wasn't supposed to make much sense. I'm still trying to make sense of it myself, but the essence of the feel is supposed to be that Tidus is warning Adara that he's more dangerous than Evan, but she assures him that she knows and doesn't really give a damn. Hope you liked XX!

_DreamlndxFantasy: _Awh… thank you so much! Again, I'll remind you of how I love it when you put your favorite parts in your reviews. Hope you liked XX!

_Animals are my LIFE: _Haha… McDonald's burgers are heart attacks in a wrapper. Hope you liked Ch. XX!

_Between2Worlds: _Oh, darling, don't be ashamed of yourself at all. Partially, it's my fault because I've been crazy-busy too. And that anniversary is gone and TWO STINKING YEARS is coming up, and you must be proud of my celebratory surprise. It took me two hours to edit it. So… what'd you think if XX?

_ThePuceOlive: _Haha… I guess "esophagus" is a good word, and I am a proud Coke addict myself. Glad you liked XIX, and hope you liked Ch. XX too!

_Blackeri: _Wow! What a compliment! I'm glad you liked it! The "Midnight" part will actually be changed in the future – I'm just working on getting DP finished before I go back and edit everything. Hope you liked Ch. XX!

_Kirsten: _Thanks so much for the positive review. It seems like a lot of you (my reviewers) are going through what you call "Tidus withdrawal." Geesh! I didn't mean to make him the new drug of the millennium! Hope you liked Ch. XX!

_SingleBlackRose13: _Awh, well, I couldn't have told you the answer to your question anyways! Thanks so much for the review, and hope you liked Ch. XX!

_Kirta-leigh: _Thanks very much for your reviews! Hope you liked Ch. XX!

_WinterNightWolf: _Awh… I'm glad they've stuck your heart. I probably couldn't stand it if someone didn't like their relationship. Hope you liked Ch. XX!

_The Rainmaster: _Thanks so much! Awh, well, no, you can't have Tidus! He's mine! Just teasing… everyone gets a share of him, I guess. To address your question of time in DP – Tidus merely blocked her memories of Evan, no one else. However, she obviously caught onto this and that instigated their first dispute back in the earlier chapters. He's also constantly protecting Adara from the pain of her heroin withdrawal and AIDS. His mind is what's doing all the work there. However, he doesn't mess with her perception of time at all. Adara lives in the moment, so it's natural for her POV to not have much detail about time. She has, as you say, "belonged" to Tidus for probably a week and a half to two weeks at this point, but even I'm not entirely sure of that. Much of that time was spent while she was unconscious after the fire. I'm glad you like the dogs as well – they're three of my favorites. Well… all of my characters are my favorites. Thanks again, and hope you liked Ch. XX!

_Lightningwriter: _Haha, your favorite!? That's awesome! Glad you liked it, and hope you liked XX as well!

_silver.shadow.23: _Oh damn that conspiring computer. I'd be angry at it for not letting me read a story! Haha… well, I _hope_ it get published someday. Evan will probably come back into play eventually, but I'm not sure when or where or how he'll go about it yet. Thanks for your review, and hope you liked Ch. XX!

_Barkflow-of-Riverclan: _Thanks!

_CelticWater: _Awh, thank you very much! Hope you liked Ch. XX!

_Elskestar: _Thank you! Haha… sometimes I wish I was there too. You're name's Adara? That's ironic. Did you know that it meant "virgin" in Arabic and "beauty" in Greek before you read this story? Hope you liked Ch. XX!

* * *


	21. Chapter XXI Dancing in a Burning Room

**

* * *

A/N: Happy summer-time everyone! This is for DP's second anniversary (oh emm gee!!! even though it's four days early) and, man, was it hard to churn out. I'm dealing with some major writer's block, and I apologize for the shortness of the chapter. However, I think I get a little credit for writing not one, but TWO songs for this chapter. Hope everyone enjoys, and I promise another update soon!**

♥

* * *

_Boston, Massachusetts_

"Sometimes things are way too coincidental," Adara mumbled, setting down her glass of water and resting her chin in her hand. Her feet swung back and forth beneath the bar, heels bumping lightly against Tidus' shins. He smiled softly, keeping his arms around her waist. When he prodded her mind gently, it gave in a tipsy stumble.

"How so?" he asked, even though he knew what she was going to say as he sifted through the thoughts flickering through her mind.

"I should have learned by now… no wonder he drank that much last time." Adara turned her face towards his and sighed. "I think Matthew's the one who changed Evan," she stated simply, responding to his question. Tidus watched the sheen of light in her hair, catching red undertones in the thick tresses that tumbled over her shoulder. Across the bar, Kai glanced up for a fraction of a second before looking back at the glass he was filling.

_I hadn't thought of that_, he said to Tidus.

_I thought he had better taste._

"Stop that." Tidus glanced back at Adara and grinned.

"What?" he teased, pulling her back against him, pressing a kiss against the arch of her neck. The pulse of her blood was heavy tonight, thick and inviting. He wanted to pull her out the door and press her against the brick wall, pushing away the thought of her fragile mortality. _Just one taste…._

"Holding conversations that I can't hear."

"I'm not the only one who gets that feeling?" Tidus glanced over at Kate, who was downing her fourth beer of the evening. Adara sat up and grinned at her.

"They're such jerks, aren't they?" she accused, taking a sip of her water. Kate turned her head to Tidus, her blonde hair bouncing as she shook her head. He sent her an impish crooked smile.

"You have no idea, Adara." Kate reached over and took Adara's empty hand. "Come on. If we leave, they might stop thinking about how great we are in bed and get cracking on what they planned to do with Matthew tonight." She winked at Tidus and pulled Adara out of his lap, the younger brunette stumbling and giggling incessantly as she followed Kate out the front door.

"Why would she think that's what we were talking about?" Kai asked, watching Kate lean against the window outside laughing with Adara about something new. Tidus chuckled as he stood and turned towards the back of the building while jerking his head in that direction when Matthew glanced up at him. Avery slid out of the booth they shared and walked towards the doorway to join Kate and Adara outside. Tidus looked back at Kai as his friend moved around the bar and tossed a towel behind him. Kai probably didn't intend for Tidus to hear his muttering, but it ignited a beaming smirk. "I don't know about you in this incident, but Kate's pretty on-target… at least halfway."

---

"You guys both know what they're up to, right?" Adara stood, leaning against the brick exterior of the pub, her arms crossed. She heard both Avery and Kate chuckle softly, allowing her a scowl. "This is so unfair," she muttered.

"It's a surprise," said Kate, her smile laced into her words. "You'll like it – I promise." Adara sighed, bored with acting annoyed. She stepped out of her shoes, spreading her toes on the cool cement beneath her feet.

_It's so weird not to see them…._ She wondered vaguely if they were still painted electric blue. "Avery?" She continued to study the shadows before her eyes, making a mental picture of her foot, the bones showing through her skin when she bent her toes just so.

"Hm?" Avery stood near her, her presence warm and comforting.

"Are my toenails still blue?" she asked, feeling like a child. Kate laughed sweetly as Avery chuckled softly once more.

"Yeah. They're a little chipped though. We should paint them again someday." Adara smiled, pushing her back into the brick, feeling it press against her spine. She looked skywards. It hurt to see only deep gray shadows, no stars. She couldn't feel or hear them. Their absence made her feel lonely, almost abandoned.

She wondered what Evan had done when he'd discovered she'd left. _Probably destroyed something,_ she thought, picturing him slamming his fist into the wall. Only this time, in her mind, his hand punched right through the wall. It felt impossible to imagine him as a vampire. She knew it was true, but the Evan she wanted to remember was her sweet songwriter, a boy in a church with damp hair.

Recalling his so-called "friends," she shuddered. What seemed strange to her was that they, including Evan, embodied her initial impression of a vampire: dangerous and untrustworthy. When he'd first looked at her after the change… those red eyes sent a jolting shiver down her spine even now. She couldn't understand what had happened, why his preoccupations all centered around… _blood_. Her fingertips pressed against the spot on her neck where he'd nearly lost control.

_He's not the same…._ She tried to make the conclusion hit, but that persistent speck of hope continued to flutter. But even when she thought of Evan, _her _Evan, her heart didn't do anything other than long for simplicity and the feeling of being whole, being in the right place. She'd felt at home with him in New York. Adara knew that Boston was right. Trust was one thing, but belief… she wanted to _see_ the city, take in the skyline... she wanted to see Tidus' face. She missed the color of the sky and the beauty of a guy's impish grin. She wanted to find her guitar and carefully continue scratching in an inlay of a phoenix, write down notes on wrinkled paper, to wake up early in the morning after a restless night and smoke a cigarette, watching smoke rings in silence.

Adara sighed, rolling lazily into reality and the noise of city traffic. She liked the sound of tires ripping through standing water along the edge of the water, cool cement under her bare feet. Reaching over her shoulder with her right hand, she tugged her hair from her back, letting it tumble down her shoulder. She began to finger-comb it as she began to return to Avery and Kate's conversation.

"They haven't played together in a while," Kate was saying. "It's so weird how the three of them can just pick up where they left off ages ago as if time hasn't even passed." Avery laughed softly, Adara understanding the irony. "Has Matthew been loyal this whole time?" Kate asked, a teasing thread in her voice. Avery's soft laugh flickered with embarrassment.

"I think so. Not that he gets much time or opportunity anyways." Avery's presence turned towards Adara, knowing that she was listening. "He's in the Peace Corps. He was over in Africa for the past year," she explained. Adara pondered on the information for a moment. _Then it had to be someone else._ Matthew's presence felt so similar, though, to the one she'd encountered when Evan was changed.

"You need to make him settle down permanently, Ave," Kate teased, her honey-sweet voice soft in the city bustle. Avery chuckled softly, smiling.

"We'll see. I don't think either of us is in a particular rush."

"Well, certainly not if you guys want to have kids after you both turn thirty-five." Adara sensed Avery rolling her eyes and smiled to herself. She moved one foot about in front of her, finding her shoe lying on its side. Righting it by grasping the heel between her toes, she stepped up a good four inches and looked towards where Kate and Avery stood.

"How long until we're allowed inside?" she inquired, holding her arms out to her side and dancing a few steps, looking towards the ground. She spun slowly, shutting her eyelids.

"They should be ready in a few minutes," Avery said. Adara sensed her moving towards the wall, looking into a window, she imagined. "Oh yeah. Come on you two," she exclaimed, taking Adara's hand in her own and pulling her through the door.

---

The chiming bells were drowned out by the chatter of the busy pub, laughing men and gossiping young women. Adara stumbled with a smile in her eyes into the center of the room with Avery, Kate close behind the two of them.

"Here are our three ladies now." Encircled by the sound system's words, Adara looked towards their source. Mercury shadow flooded her mind, and she shook her head, smiling.

_What are you up to now?_ she asked him silently.

"Just one tonight," Tidus said, addressing his audience, a laugh evident in his voice.

"He's not going to admit it, but it's for our new regular." Kai's amber gaze flickered for a moment as Adara glanced in his direction. She felt eyes scanning her face, her body, and the familiar feeling of being on stage resurfaced. Smiling softly, she glanced left and right, feeling slightly shy for the first time in her life. It was so different when she couldn't see who was staring back at her.

Adara was soon distracted by guitar chords, a drumbeat falling in with them. One guitar played lower chords, stronger, heavier. Though acoustic, it held the presence of a base guitar. _Kai._ An affirmative chuckle slipped through her mind. She began to slowly dance, forgetting that she was in a room of faceless strangers. She knew who was behind the music.

_Three strikes used to mean defeat, for a moment at least_

_Seems lately that things aren't the way they're supposed to be_

_Sweet little girl with aphrodisiacs in her hair_

_Living her life not a moment too soon_

_She's breaking the way of the world with her smile_

Tidus' midnight voice filled the room with its strength, filling Adara's veins with a pleasure she only found in music. Moving back and forth, she danced alone, slowly stepping out of her shoes and letting the worn floorboards caress the soles of her feet.

_Maybe if I knew why this memory embraces me_

_It might be possible to leave, push away_

_But what's the use in changing things_

_When you're happy with the way they are_

_When you'd die to eliminate the passing of time_

Though his gentle style was similar to Evan's soft acoustic, Adara felt their differences. Evan's had been sweet but transparently so. Tidus' song could be wordless, and the same feeling would ignite in her blood. She wished she could take his hands and slowly dance with him on the floor, but she knew that his fingers were busy on his high-singing guitar.

_I guess it fits, that someone so grown up_

_Finds his fountain of youth in one so young_

_She never saw a future, just a moment_

_Didn't count the rises and sets of the sun_

_She's more alive than anything I've ever seen_

Closing her eyes, she lost herself to her imagination, trying to filter through memories of color that fit with the song. _Purple…_ she smiled.

_Maybe if I knew why these small hands hold mine_

_It might be possible to leave, pull away_

_But what's the use in changing things_

_When you're happy with the way they are_

_When you'd die to give her another day_

When she next opened her eyes, Tidus' silver gaze bore straight into her, heating a flush to her face. She hated to think about how attractive his annoyingly confidant smile would feel were she to pass her fingers over his lips and trace the laugh lines of his cheeks. Shaking her head slowly, she turned sideways towards him, letting her eyes return to a haven of shadow.

_Maybe if I knew why these lips are paralyzing me_

_It might be possible to leave, break away_

_But what's the use in changing things_

_When you're happy with the way they are_

_When you'd die to stay in this moment_

Long after the applause had died down, Adara sat with Tidus' arms around her once more at the bar, sipping a cup of piping hot tea. "So what did you decide to call it?" she asked playfully, turning her head just slightly to receive a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth.

"Purple Elephant." She smiled.

"It was beautiful," she said, leaning her head back into his shoulder. "How could Matthew and Kai both known what to play?" she said to herself, not expecting an answer. She mentally slapped herself for forgetting she was with Tidus, unbelievably multi-talented heart-throb extraordinaire.

"When you've been musical as long as we have-," he started. Adara cut him off with a wave of her hand. He laughed and kissed her gently on her cheek. _Sorry._ "By the way, I spoke to Matthew. It wasn't him." Adara sat up, turning to look at Tidus straight in the eye. She refused to let his mercury gaze distract her from all seriousness, but it proved to be quite a difficult feat.

"Then who-?" she tried to ask.

"Someone he knows from the New York area. Apparently, the vampire that turned Evan is the younger brother of Kaelyn."

"Who?" The name was familiar to Adara, but she only vaguely recalled it.

"The one who rescued you." The entire situation seemed to have passed such a long time ago that Adara felt as if she'd stumbled in her own thought process. Touching two fingers to her temple, she pressed gently, lowering her eyelids. Tidus' hand rising to lay on hers was a calming comfort.

"Are you all right?" he asked gently. She sighed, leaning her elbow on the bar and setting her chin in her hand.

"Yeah," she said, nearly whispering. "I just-." Pausing, she was surprised that he didn't press her further. She smiled for his waiting, taking a deep breath. "I don't know," she finally said.

"That's okay," Tidus replied, pulling her back into his chest. Noticing that it rose and fell, just as any normal person's would, Adara's bubbling, childish questions arose with a silent laugh.

"Do you have to breathe?" she asked, looking up. He laughed, the vibration in his chest, warm and very much alive, transferring through the back of her neck.

"No. Just habit," he said, his breathing coming to an abrupt and purposeful halt. After a few seconds of simply sitting with an eerily still companion, Adara elbowed Tidus in his abdomen. She was surprised when the expected grunt never passed through the air. "What was that for?" he snapped playfully, tickling her ribs for a moment.

"Okay – please begin breathing again. It's too creepy when we're amongst the living," she joked. Feeling Tidus exhale, she relaxed and took another sip of her tea. "So how often does Kai have an open mike?" she asked.

"Every Friday," Tidus said, running his fingers through her hair. "Why? Are you planning on stealing someone's guitar and performing?" he asked, teasing.

"I haven't seriously practiced in ages," she mused, finishing off her tea, floating in the warmth that seeped through her body from the warm liquid. She found herself wishing to be somewhere quiet, wrapped in Tidus' arms and drifting to sleep. Mentally pinching herself awake, she sat up. "You're making me fall asleep," she accused.

"Hn?" Not believing a second of his confusion, she punched his chest playfully, accidentally letting her palm spread and trace over the ridges of his muscles through his shirt.

"One, you're too comfortable, and, two, now you're distracting me." He chuckled, pulling her up so that both of them were now standing.

"I think you're just especially susceptible to my immeasurable charms and qualities." Adara ignored her opportunity to physically abuse, however useless, Tidus. She instead focused on the song that the current band was playing, smiling as she recognized it. Sliding her hands into Tidus' she backed away from the bar a few steps before winding her arms up around his neck and resting her head on his shoulder. They, as a pair, slowly started turning. She wondered if she and Tidus were the only couple slow-dancing.

She felt Tidus bend his head, his lips next to her ear, whispering something so softly that she couldn't understand a word he said.

"What are you saying?" she asked quietly, wondering. While he took his time responding, she found herself wondering to where her shoes had disappeared. _Why am I always barefoot these days?_

"_And you know that we're doomed; my dear, we're slow-dancing in a burning room."_ Hearing Tidus' voice next to her ear re-focused her attention, his hands low on her hips, gentle and comforting.

"You sing much better than he does," she said, referring to the band's lead singer. Tidus chuckled softly, tracing her jaw line with soft, inconspicuous kisses. Reaching her fingertips, she combed through Tidus' hair, wishing she could see the jet midnight falling across his eyes, memorize the exact shade of his skin. Her left hand falling back to rest on the back of his neck, she let her right hand trace closer to his face, her thumb trailing over his ear. When she met the cool kiss of metal, she smiled softly. "When did you get this?"

"Decades ahead of the trend," he said vacantly. Sensing that he was lost in thought, Adara fingered the tiny hoop in his earlobe before pressing her cheek against his chest and slowly closing her eyes. _"Don't you think we ought to know by now? Don't you think we should have learned somehow?"_

_---_

While watching Adara stroke Renee's golden head, Tidus quietly reined in the damaged T-cells in her bloodstream, commanding them to submit to his will. It wasn't difficult, but it required a concentration that tended to pull him at least halfway out of reality. His usually hyper-aware ears, sense of smell, and sight were dampened in a slight daze, making him feel uncomfortable and restless in his own mind. Impatient to terminate the process, he finished off his tenth beer of the evening, ignoring his thirst for something thicker and more substantial.

Kate sat next to him at the bar, swishing her legs back and forth, her glazed and tipsy eyes unfocused. Behind them, Kai's hands clinked glasses as he cleaned up the bar for the night. Avery sat on the edge of the slightly elevated stage, her head nestled comfortably into Matthew's broad shoulder. Her eyes flickered, half-closed. The place had emptied out in the young hours of the morning. Now just holding the three vampires and the trio of women, it had fallen into a comfortable quiet that only accompanied a time close to one-thirty in the morning.

"Adara?" Kate's stumbling voice split the air. Tidus watched Adara look up, adoring the way her eyes reflected the dim light and her hair spilled over her shoulder with her movement.

"Yes?" Not bothering to glance at Kate, he sensed her moving her hand, tucking strands of blonde hair behind her ear.

"Don't you sing?" Kate asked. Adara blinked, her lashes meshing for a split second. She looked back down at Renee, giving her another scratch behind her flopping ears.

"I used to, at least much more than I have recently."

"Why didn't you sing something then?" Without breaking the grin he wanted to, Tidus stood silently, walking over to where his closed guitar case lay on the stage. He clicked open the lock with a thought, confidant that only Kai and Matthew could hear or sense the motion. Pulling out his acoustic guitar, he let his gaze trace over the golden wood, the lacquer worn and scratched. Resting the butt of the instrument against his hip and holding the neck in his hand, he traced the cool strings with his free hand, wondering what kind of song Adara would pull from his guitar.

"I don't know," he heard her say. "I guess I just didn't think about it. Anyways," she mumbled quietly to herself, "I haven't performed one of my own songs in front of anyone in ages." _I don't think I could do it now… I'd have to be alone beforehand…._ Her thoughts slipped into his mind, allowing him to smile ever so slightly.

Striding over to where she sad cross-legged in the center of the open floor, Tidus knelt down, gently placing the guitar in her lap and pulling her hands into place. She looked up at him, recognizing his steady gaze, but he stood and stepped away, leaving her mind's sight alone.

Returning to his seat next to Kate, Tidus leaned against the bar, his elbows propped up behind his back. _That was a little fast._ He didn't bother to glace at Kai, who'd ceased all movement to leave Adara in quiet peace.

_Thank God Kate's a little more than tipsy then._ Too often, Tidus found himself forgetting to act like a slow mortal around the blonde schoolteacher. _You really need to start making a move soon. Three years is nuts_, he told Kai mentally.

_And have her go ballistic on me? You just need to practice moving slowly enough for them to at least _think_ that you're human._ Tidus sighed inwardly and shook his head at Kai for the umpteenth time about this argument. Instead, he focused on Adara's graceful fingers hovering over the guitar strings.

---

It wasn't hard for her to decide upon a song. She plucked a few strings softly, letting her fingers remember the chords and placements between the frets. Adara wanted to believe that she wasn't imagining Tidus' aura residing in the guitar he'd placed in her lap. Articulately folding her fingertips onto the strings, she paused, closing her eyes. Her right hand hovered centimeters above the first string, waiting for the right moment to begin.

_It's nice to see you here today_

_Grass woven into the lines_

_Of those aged grayed jeans_

_We don't really miss the blue_

_They match your hands better this way… anyways_

She commenced with her voice soft, hesitant. The chords came naturally to her fingertips, playing giddily, even though the gentle pace of the song was just a beating strum. Her eyes remaining closed, she let a mental picture of Cameron develop. Singing the song she'd written for him after he'd been absent from the loft for a week made her miss him terribly, worry sparking in her heart for her oldest friend who'd been an alcoholic for longer than she could remember.

_In the midst of the wide, wide world_

_Little flower on the side of the road_

_Frayed strings on a violin_

_The art of a rusty spoon_

_Funny what you find within_

Letting her fingers flutter over the strings, Adara spoke to her memory of Cameron: _At least you got out of the crack "business." Do you know how Lily's doing? _Her fingers moved according to their own instinct.

_Wonder where you are today_

_Out in the white, white rain_

_Time is on the corner_

_With a cold roll in his hands_

_Shivering… missing the indigo_

She imagined resting her head against Cameron's shoulder, falling asleep to a memory of his violin playing, his arm wrapped protectively around her waist. He'd been like an older brother to her, saving her neck as many times as she'd walked him back to the loft, stumbling in a drunken stupor.

_In the midst of the wide, wide world_

_Little flower on the side of the road_

_Frayed strings on a violin_

_The art of a rusty spoon_

_Funny what you find within_

Her foot softly tapped against the wooden floor of the pub, golden tones warm through the shadow of her sight. Tidus' guitar rested comfortably in her lap, her arms draped over its curves in an embrace, fingers coaxing the melody out of its depths.

_Too bad that you aren't here today_

_To take away our blue_

_Too bad that you can't sell it away_

_If you could, the whole world would bow_

_To you… bow to you_

Adara took a deep breath as waited for the next verse, keeping her eyes gently closed so that only a crack of shadow penetrated the dark.

_In the midst of the wide, wide world_

_Little flower on the side of the road_

_Frayed strings on a violin_

_The art of a rusty spoon_

_Funny what you find within_

_Funny what you find within_

When she opened her eyes, she was greeted eight hands' worth of gentle applause and a deep silver gaze. Blushing ever so slightly, she stood, cradling the guitar in her arms, waiting as Tidus walked towards her. When he took it out of her hands, he kissed her gently on her mouth, just a quick breath's length. _You're about to fall asleep on your feet,_ he commented. She smiled.

"Yeah." Tidus moved away from her after shrugging off his jacket and wrapping her hand around its neck.

"Put that on," he instructed. As she slipped her arms into the warm garment, she inhaled deeply, sighing inwardly with comfort. She heard the unmistakable clicking of a guitar case, and, too quickly for human capability, her hand was in Tidus' and they were walking towards the door of the pub. "Bonsoir, mes amis," he called back to the others as he pushed open the door for Adara. "Ave, come back whenever Matthew leaves town."

Adara only began to regret misplacing her shoes when the soles of her feet began to freeze against the concrete. Once she noticed, she looked towards Tidus, rolling her eyes when he laughed into the quiet of the night. She was comfortable, walking hand in hand with him, but, after a few more yards, a violent shiver wracked her spine.

"Okay – please?" she asked, grinning sheepishly. Instantly, she found her legs wrapped around his waist, her arms slung around his heck, hands pressing against his collarbones. She sighed. "If I could see, you'd blind me way too often." Adara felt him smile as he continued walking, carrying her as if she weren't anything but a light-as-dust jacket.

Leaning her head on his shoulder, she doze, soothed by the quiet pace of his walk and the distant sound of city-traffic. _I feel safe with you,_ she told him, closing her eyes.

* * *

© July 2007, Silver Phoenix 117

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**The song that they dance to is "Slow Dancing in a Burning Room" by John Mayer… also after which the chapter is titled.

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**_**Review Responses:**_

_fliccolo: _Haha! Awe… I don't know how often I've been thanked for updating. I think I should be the one thanking you for reading! Hope you liked the latest installment!

_ObsessivelyAddicted:_ I hope you haven't died waiting! I'm working on finishing DP before I start worrying about publishing, but it is something that I would very much like to do! Thanks!

_Between2Worlds:_ 4,000 PLUS WORDS. I am wiped out, but it was worth it. I'm sure that we'll have tres beaucoup to discuss in our rediscovered e-mail chatting, so I'll leave the bulk of words for there. Je t'aime, mon amie!

_SingleBlackRose13:_ Aw… same here! Tidus is my number-one. Thanks for reviewing!

_Elskestar:_ Matthew is quite another story, as I realized when I stared writing this chapter. I decided that I had to be pretty vague about him, lest I not finish DP for another two years. Anyway, thanks for reviewing and hope you liked Chapter XXI!

_The Puce Olive: _Thanks for the review!

_ALittleTooAddicted: _You're probably going to have to re-read Ch. XX just to remember what goes on before Ch. XXI. I know I did, and I'm the one who knows this story best! Well, I hope the bright inbox-lights go, "KAPOW" for this next chapter. Hope you liked it!

_silver.shadow.23: _Haha… there are even more now! That's the world of music… I'll make sure to check out the Gomez song. And of course someone else listens to Bob Dylan! He's one of the greatest song-writers in HISTORY! Hope you liked Ch. XXI!

_ShadeSpirit: _I'm going to let you guess what Tidus had to go back and get, and a little bit about Matthew should have been answered here. Hope you liked Ch. XXI!

_Shaydes of Grey: _The first few chapters, as you said, are a bit chaotic. I'm working on revising them, and have the first two completed – check out my FictionPress account – but right now I'm just focusing on finishing DP before I go through and edit. Thanks very much for the reviews! Hope you liked Ch. XXI!

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Thanks for the review and hope you liked Ch. XXI!

_DreamlndxFantasy: _Thanks so much for your wonderful, detailed review! There's not much I can say in response to it besides that, but you already know how much I appreciate them. Hope you liked Ch. XXI!

_WinterNightWolf: _Thanks for the review!

_Tabbitha Graves: _Awe… again, I'm working on finishing before I work on getting DP published. It's a dream for the future right now. I don't know which I would choose. I'm very much reliant on music, but I happen to be an artist on the other hand. The program you're using sounds wonderful! I wish I could listen to DP being read aloud by someone else. I don't personally know anyone that is blind, and it is such an honor to be complemented as you have me. Thank you very much for the reviews! Your ideas in regards to Evan have been very helpful in planning for future events in the plotline. Feel free to e-mail me at anytime if you'd like. I check that much more often than I update. My address is on my profile page. Hope you liked Ch. XXI!

_Chedea: _Thanks very much! Hope you liked Ch. XXI!

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	22. Chapter XXII Climbing Trees

**

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Next update should be at Thanksgiving at the absolute latest. I'm shooting for mid-October if I manage to keep my life intact until then. Thanks to all of you for reading and reviewing!**

**Cheers!**

**-- SP

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**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

Tidus regarded Adara as she slept - her head was nestled deep into the pillow that she had unconsciously wedged between herself and his side. The chocolate hair that framed her face tumbled over her bare shoulder, the color melting with the warm green and navy plaid of the flannel shirt she had miraculously conjured from the vast closet in her room. The shirttail whispered a few inches below her hips, her legs being covered in a tangle of deep claret sheets.

Her long-fingered hands clutched at the pillow, the graceful contours of her knuckles pressing her skin white against the dark fabric, her lips barely kissing the backside of her palm. Tidus silently chuckled to himself as he resisted kissing her awake in the raw, powdery light of dawn. He could sense her immune system working fervently to compensate for corrupted T-cells, only managing to refrain from deteriorating because of his willpower. Even asleep, Adara's body was unable to fully relax.

Leaning back against a sloppy pile of pillows, he ran a hand through his jet hair and sighed, shutting his eyes, but remaining fully awake. He had not slept in a matter of months.

Pressing gently with his mind, he brushed against Adara's conscious. She was deep in a dream that he didn't feel necessary to invade, so he gradually eased his body away from her pillow and slid silently off of the bed before letting his physical being disintegrate into shadow and thought.

It was not uncomfortable passing, like a sound wave, through the closed wooden door and the drywall surrounding his music room, but, even after two millennia of occasionally moving in this manner, the unnaturalness was a sensation of which he was wary. Allowing his body to reassemble from thin air, he bowed and flipped open his guitar case to pull out the instrument. The old Fender acoustic was worn, but the wood's honey tone was still as warm as the day he'd received it.

_"I figured we should both start playing something more modern." Kai's golden brown eyes were freckled with his smile as he handed the black case to his friend. Tidus wrinkled his nose, staring at the hideous exterior. Nevertheless, he took the neck of the case in one hand and studied the logo pasted there._

"_Do you honestly believe I have the time to learn this instrument?" he asked. Kai chuckled, locking his hands in the back pockets of his threadbare jeans. His coppery brown hair shone in the summer sunlight._

"_Just have fun with it," he said, clapping Tidus on the shoulder before turning and walking away languidly, a cheery whistle trailing behind him._

He slid down into a cross-legged position, his back pressed against the wall opposite a window that occupied the entire east side of the room. The sun was barely beginning to creep through the spaces in the forest behind the house. Plucking at the strings, he closed his eyes and let his fingers move on their own accord, not really listening to what he indifferently created.

Only a few minutes after he had begun playing, two pairs chestnut eyes peered through the open doorway and eight paws padded towards him. Casey merely pressed her cool nose against his elbow for a moment before circling three times and lying down at his side. Otis, however, playfully tugged at the hem of Tidus' jeans until he eventually understood that his master was not going to respond. His throat rumbled in a makeshift growl, and he promptly plopped onto his belly, looking forlornly up at Tidus. His small, bushy tan and black tail thumped on the thick carpet.

"Oh, pup," Tidus sighed, setting down his guitar and plucking the young German Shepherd off of the ground, resulting in a joyous yip and squirming legs. Holding Otis by the scruff of his neck with one hand, Tidus, with a crooked smile, tickled the puppy's stomach before letting him scramble into his lap and reach to lick his chin with a panting grin. He cradled Otis' head in his hands, rubbing behind his perked, black-tipped ears, looking him straight in the face. "You are trouble," he informed Otis, though both he and the two dogs were already well-aware of the fact. Otis returned the statement with a lopsided grin, his pink tongue lolling to the side.

Settling Otis into his lap, Tidus absentmindedly stroked the dog's thick fur, letting his thoughts drift into the hallway and settle around Adara. He could hear her heartbeat, the faintest drum, pumping rhythmically, a lone metronome in the house. The only clock in the residence belonged to Avery, and it was a digital sport watch that she unfailingly had clasped around her wrist.

He counted each beat, reveling in its unwavering pace despite her weakened blood. Though not medically considered healthy, he knew that Adara's blood was the sweetest nectar by which he would ever be tempted: not metallic to his taste, as most human blood ran. It would be saccharine, like drinking liquid ruby infused with life, thick and hot with the emotions and feelings of her world. Pressing ever so gently into her throat would be ecstasy in and of itself, but, _afterwards_, with her blood heating his body….

Unaware until now that, by thinking of what he could never do, his fangs had extended and begun to throb agonizingly in his mouth, Tidus wrenched his thoughts away from the sleeping girl's pulse. It was like trying to rein in a sprinting Thoroughbred. He grappled with temptation for a moment before regaining control of himself and focusing on his surroundings with disturbing scrutiny. He forced his canines to retreat so that they rested precisely where they should, were he human, and vehemently eradicated the aching desire that had overtaken his body.

Pressing the back of his head into the wall, he closed his eyes for a moment as his hand instinctively reached to massage Casey's slightly perked ears. He could feel the distinct difference between the black and deep tan hairs under his fingertips. Even without focusing on Adara, he was still surrounded by the two dogs' heartbeats, but at least their blood was infinitely less tempting. They were also astutely aware of the tone of even his body and would respond to their instincts to flee in the unlikely event that he lost control of himself. Adara on the other hand… he chuckled at how naturally idiotic humans were, how Adara trusted him even when she, unsuspectingly, was in constant danger.

Tidus stood, looking down at the two dogs sternly. "Don't wake her up." In a moment, his bare feet strode silently across scattered crisp leaves in the woods behind the house. The cool air pressed against the bare skin of his forearms like a morning kiss, the sleeves of his cream sweater rolled up to his elbows. Ochre and deep red leaves were bright splotches of paint against an overcast sky, the perfect expression of fall in Massachusetts. Many branches were already nude, bony fingers clawing at the foggy gray above the treetops. Stepping under an ancient maple with bronze leaves, Tidus reached above his head with both hands, near to the thick trunk, and swung himself up into a seated position on a well-suited branch. His back pressed against the knotted bark, his feet swinging in the cool air, brushed on the insteps by the hem of his deep navy jeans.

A flaming orange leaf fluttered down to rest on his bent knee as wind scattered braids of others than had already reached the forest floor.

---

"Tidus?" He looked down at Adara's face upturned towards his eyes, her expression making it clear that her vision was flooded with his metallic irises. He'd known that she'd been approaching for some time – in fact, ever since Avery had pushed her and Casey out into the backyard with a smile. _Thanks for making her breakfast_, he thought, pushing the words to Avery.

_I know you forget._ He continued to graze Adara's body, her collarbones prominent, strong above the knee-length, navy jumper she wore. The neckline was enticingly low, with a v-cut back, but Adara moved with such ignorant confidence without a bra that he didn't even bother to wish she'd worn something else. She stood, in bare feet as well, on top of the gnarled roots of the maple tree, one hand pressed against the trunk to keep her balanced. The breeze threaded her uncombed hair into even more knots, the mass moving as a whole instead of numerous individual strands. Casey, knowing her charge to be in safe hands, trotted back towards the house, her tail flagging behind her. Tidus chuckled at her broken and filigreed thoughts, all directed to her own morning meal courtesy of Avery.

Adara's chocolate eyes were still fogged with sleep, circles running underneath her eyes as if she'd woken from an unsettling dream. Her thoughts, however, were focused on the feeling of fall across her skin and under her toes.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked her out loud, breaking nature's self-directed conversation. She smiled at his voice; he liked being able to see the slightly crooked tooth next to her front left one. It was pixie-like to him, and her correspondence with the view around them was flawless.

"Did you?" she teased. Her eyes flickered, as if searching for a branch in order to hoist herself up to his level. "May I come up?" she asked, her voice sweet to his ears.

He pushed himself down, landing low with his knees bent, not bothering to conceal the crunch of the leaves beneath his feet. She turned towards him, arms outstretched for his hands, but, instead of merely moving them as a pair into the tree, he took one of her hands. "Step onto my knee," he instructed, guiding her leg to bend and letting her stand on her own, wobbling a little even with his support.

"Now?" she inquired, laughing a little.

"Reach up and grab the branch and use your left foot to press against the trunk." As she did so, her knees shaking slightly, he stood with the result of her slipping and scrambling to clutch the branch above her head, both feet kicking at air.

"Tidus!" she yelped, looking adorably helpless. He stood in front of her, moving his hands to settle gently on her swinging hips.

"Left foot on the trunk," he repeated, watching her do so delicately with uncertainty. Once she had a foothold, she continued to shake, but she was no longer desperately hanging in midair. "Pull yourself up," he said with a small smile. In a rather unorthodox manner, Adara moved so that she hung monkey-style, both feet pressed against the trunk.

"You'll catch me if I fall, right?" she asked, her voice unsteady as she inched her feet up towards the branch such that her body moved to be parallel to the ground.

"Of course." Adara then promptly proceeded to awkwardly hoist her left leg over the location where the branch met the tree, her muscles trembling as she scrambled to pull herself into a seated position. Tidus tried to imagine what that must be like, being blind, but Adara had proved it possible, so it couldn't have been that hard. She sat, swinging her legs and grinning.

"You know," she said, "I've never climbed a tree before." Her eyes were sparkling with delight.

"Never?" He was slightly surprised. She seemed the type to invade Central Park with a friend in tow, and climb to drastic heights without any regard for her safety.

"Nope," she stated simply, still swinging her legs, the hem of her dress riding dangerously short on her thighs. Tidus chuckled softly as he lithely swung himself up onto the branch next to hers. "So," she mused, pausing for a moment. He did not interrupt her, but watched her steadily as she stared into space with intense observation. "Tell me about yourself," she said, still not looking at him. Initially, he was somewhat baffled at the inquiry.

"Like what?" he asked.

"Everything." He narrowed his eyes, waiting for her to look at him. When she did, she spoke once more. "I don't really _know_ anything about you," she said simply. It _was _true, he supposed. Adara only knew him based on the roughly two weeks she'd spent with him. "I'm not asking for the most intimate details of your existence," she teased, laughing to herself, her feet swinging cheerfully.

"Where should I start?" he asked.

"Up until you became a vampire," she suggested, looking at her hands then back to him, settling herself against the tree as if she were preparing for an epic tale of most interest.

"Well," Tidus started slowly, "I was born in Athens about twenty-three centuries ago." Within his pause, Adara interrupted for the first time.

"That makes you older than Kai!" she exclaimed. He nodded, if only for his own benefit; he was curious as to the reason for her childish mood.

"My father was a wealthy and well-respected merchant in the city. My mother gave birth to my sister two years after I was born, and she raised us both until I left home to become a soldier in my teenage years. At the time, Greece was under Macedonian power. I enlisted in Alexander the Greats' army and ended up staying in Alexandria after its foundation. While in Egypt, I traveled to the city of Thebes, and that is where I was changed. I was twenty-six years old."

The summary of his short life felt as if he were telling someone else's story, and not his own. Back then, it had been exciting. He'd seen Alexandria rise out of the sands of Egypt and become a thriving metropolis. He'd been a high-ranking soldier, worthy of Alexander's acquaintance and respect. He could not remember, however, when this had become insignificant to him. Perhaps it was when he changed from a mortal and disappeared from all knowledge for four straight years, relearning himself in order to gradually merge back into society when he could manage control.

"Tidus?" Adara's voice shattered his reminiscence. "What happened then?" she asked. "Did you return to Athens?"

"I did," he continued, not quite entirely in the present. He had not thought of his past this intricately in quite some time. "I sailed back Athens thanks to my newly discovered talent: control over the minds of humans. No one remembered my face, which was convenient, since my 'death' had never been confirmed by those I knew in the army."

"And when you were in Athens again?" Adara's eyes were focused, intent with curiosity. He couldn't understand why she found this so interesting.

"I checked up on my family. My father was as productive as ever, with more wrinkles and gray hair. My mother spent her days weaving and worked as an outside seamstress for a friend of hers that ran a business of the sort."

"How about your sister?" This innocent question unknowingly probed at the event that had most profoundly separated Tidus from his former world. A grimace escaped his mask of reserve, and he was, for once, thankful that Adara could not see his expression.

"She had married several years earlier to a man of whom both my parents approved. He turned out, after she'd borne two of his children, to be a complete and utter snake. He was viciously abusive towards her, and he had no respect towards their marriage." Tidus paused. "He was my first intentional victim, I suppose. I pretended to return home afterwards, staying at my sister's house to help her sort out the situation. A few months later, I foolishly confessed my secret to her. She committed suicide soon after that." Adara watched him with sorrowful regard, her eyes soft and wide. The corners of her mouth had lost their usual smile.

"What was her name?" she asked.

"Kaethe." Tidus had never spoken of his sister to anyone else before. He vaguely wondered why he was telling Kaethe's story, but it soon occurred to him that, if he were going to tell anyone of her, that person would be Adara.

"I am sorry," she said softly. He listened to her mentally consider reaching for his hand, but she was hesitant about the distance and his feelings. Tidus lifted his arm from its resting place on his raised knee and slipped her hand into his palm, glad to see the tiniest smile on her lips.

"Me too," he replied unnecessarily.

"What happened to the kids?" she asked him.

"My niece and nephew? My parents took them in. I left town and disappeared until the Roman Empire held power. I then began working as a mercenary. I've pretty much been doing that ever since." Thinking his tale finished, Adara surprised him by asking again about his sister's children.

"So you had relatives?" It wasn't a question. "That means you could still have relatives living today!" She grinned, cocking her head to the side slightly. "Do you know where they are?" she asked.

"I never bothered to follow the bloodline." He thought about the concept for a nanosecond. "Besides, what would be the point in finding them anyways: introduce myself and say, 'Hello, there – I'm your great, great, great, great, great, etc.-uncle?'" Adara shrugged, unconcerned.

"Just wondering," she commented nonchalantly. "Have you ever changed somebody?" Again, he narrowed his eyes. He could not fathom where she was trying to go with these questions; her thoughts were turned to the crevices in the bark in front of her hips.

"No."

"Have you ever wanted to?" she asked again. Her mind was firmly focused on the ridges beneath her fingertips.

"No." He was glaring at this point, concerned only about her purpose. She glanced up at him, her eyes thick with contemplation, and, in that instant, her intentions became clear, and he was reeling before she asked her next question.

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© Silver Phoenix 117, September 2007

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_**Review Responses:**_

_Chedea: _Thanks very much for your reviews! I'm glad you didn't like, but loved, Ch. XXI. Hope this one was satisfying as well!

_ALittleTooAddicted:_ They are cute, aren't they? And speaking of rereading… I'm working on my MANUSCRIPT! Woohoo! I'm a few chapters through editing, and, of course, it's not complete since DP isn't, but at least I'm starting it, right? I may post the edited versions for your guys' enjoyment – I just need to know if people would want to read them. Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_Rebecca Andrews: _Here's my end of the update! I absolutely cannot believe that I actually did it this weekend, but hurrah! I'm actually pretty pleased with the result. We're in for quite the argument, I believe. Oh, and to address the Cameron-thing: he's more of an older brother to Adara – I refuse to have a guy _triangle_ for Adara. P

_fliccolo:_ Thanks for the review! Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_Animals are my LIFE:_ Thanks! Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_Between2Worlds: _No worries, of course. We seriously need to keep up the communication, even though school in insane, as always. How are you!?!

_WinterNightWolf: _I'm not, personally, a big cat fan, so I'm sorry that your toes were at risk! I had a hard time making Matthew bad, so I just went the sissy way and made him a Peace Corps guy. Sigh… hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_Tabbitha Graves: _Thank you so much for your review! In fact, I did write the songs myself. I have my own little melodies in my head for them, but, alas, I have no time to sit down at a piano and actually pluck out a true sheet of music for them. I'm so glad you liked them because, honestly, they took me absolutely forever to write! Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_The Puce Olive:_ Thanks for the review and hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_msenterprise: _Would you be so kind as to give me the web address for the site? I didn't know DP was known enough to enter places other than FanFiction! Thanks very much for the review, and hope you keep reading! Oh, and by the way, DP has not yet become a book – that's something hopeful for the future.

_Shade Spirit: _Thanks very much for the review! Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_The Greeter of Darkness: _Haha! Tidus seems to be everyone's dream-guy, including mine. Kai and Kate… sigh… I have no idea. Kai has to determine that! Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_atreyu love: _I'm glad you liked the songs! Thanks for your reviews and hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_DreamlndxFantasy: _Thanks for the review! I'm so glad you like detailing – I can't stand vague stories. XD Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_Xoxo a rose for your thoughts: _Thanks for your review! Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

_Emma_: Thanks for your review! And I can't have Tidus bite Adara yet because then we would miss all of the exciting stuff! Hope you liked Ch. XXII!

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	23. Chapter XXIII Throwing Rocks

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Unbelievable how far behind I've gotten on this. Sorry to everyone who was waiting on me! You all are the best for sticking around! (16,000+ hits – pretty snazzy! Not to mention 276 reviews to count!)**

**Cheers,**

**SP

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**_**Boston, Massachusetts**_

_You've got to be kidding me._ Adara sat before him on the tree branch, looking as if she'd merely asked him the date or the time of day. She glanced up at him every once in a while, her thoughts twisting, convincing herself that he couldn't have possibly misunderstood her.

Tidus watched her eyes flicker without focus, her thick eyelashes framing blue almonds. He sighed audibly, crossing his arms. "Why would you even bring that up?" he asked, carefully keeping his voice an even monotone.

Adara shrugged, drawing her knees up to her chest, letting her toes curl around the bark of the joint between branch and trunk. Her hair slid around her shoulders as she rested her sharp chin on her folded forearms, mimicking the gnarled tree's texture on her skin. "I was thinking about it." Tidus bit back a scoffing exhale. _She was _thinking _about it._

"Obviously."

"So?" She looked at him, expecting something. Tidus wasn't going to say anything if she wouldn't articulate her thoughts. He was glad he had the freedom of scowling at her. "What would it be like, me?"

"You wouldn't like it." His irritation grew as her mind pressed forward on the subject.

"How do you know?" she asked. Tidus exhaled sharply and swung himself off of the branch, landing without the dry crunch of leaves. He turned, motioning slightly with his hand for Casey to stay with Adara. Even as he was stalking away, he heard Adara scramble down from the tree and land with a thud and thick crackling. She began to push after him, and, before she'd taken five steps with Casey trailing her shadow, she tripped, arms branched out in front of her, hands splayed.

"You trust me way too much," he muttered, sliding his hands underneath her arms and helping her gingerly upright herself. As she straightened herself, she pushed her hair from her face.

"See," she persisted, her hands still clutching his forearms, "You wouldn't have to do that anymore." Tidus looked down at her, sighing again.

"No." He stated firmly. Adara's eyebrows knotted together.

"Why not?" she demanded. Tidus focused sharply on her eyes, locking her in connection. He watched her absorb the tension, the muscles in her arms mimicking what he felt as she pulled slightly away from him. "At least think about it?" she asked, voice tight.

_No_. He pulled her against his chest in a hard embrace, weaving his hands into the ruff of Casey's neck. His temper was up, and Avery would probably side with Adara if he sent her back to the house. He didn't like to think of it as depositing her like a Federal Express package, but he had a hard time getting the image of his tiny brunette stamped in purple and orange letters.

--

"The nerve of him!" Adara snapped, stalking with Casey in tow down the sidewalk, her bare feet slapping the cement. She knew exactly where she was, and she didn't bother to worry about running into anyone she passed. _They'll move._

She fumbled with her hands across brick walls before finding a familiar glass-paneled door, but, when she tried to viciously yank it open, she ended up jarring her body involuntarily. "God _damn _it!" she swore, pounding her fist into the rattling glass. "Kai!" she hollered.

Adara immediately heard barking in response, knowing that her impatient knocking had at least woken Renee up. The door shuddered underneath her now flat palms, and she guessed that Renee had skidded across the wooden floor of the pub to press her paws up onto the glass. Casey gave a quick yip next to her as she jived on her paws before anxiously sitting.

"Kai!" she yelled again, only to be met with the metallic groan of an opening lock and bells before she darted out of the way to avoid being squashed by the swinging door.

"Holy fuck, 'dara," Kai slurred, his warm voice scratchy and sleep-ridden. She heard him yawn as he pulled her inside and shut the door, locking it behind them. Casey and Renee's nails clicked on the floorboards as they moved ahead of them.

"Why were you sleeping?" she asked, letting him lead her across the room.

"First time in a couple of months." He lifted her hand: "Stairs," he murmured. Gingerly, she lifted her feet, scouting out their steepness and meeting rough carpet with her toes. She padded slowly up the stairs, letting Kai's hand guide her.

"You live upstairs?" she inquired as he led her into a spacious-feeling room after the landing.

"Loft." Adara listened to Kai shuffling around for a moment. "You want some tea?" he asked, his voice indicating his distance.

"Yeah," Adara murmured, moving with her hands along the wall to her left. She gently passed over the smooth drywall. The wooden paneling underneath her feet was cool to the touch. As she moved forward, she hit the leather arm of a couch and promptly climbed into the pile of blanket waiting for her there.

A few minutes later, Kai came to her side, sitting on the couch next to her. "Here," he said, wrapping her hands around a warm mug.

"Thanks." Adara smiled as she felt Kai stretch out, his arm spanning on the back of the couch behind her.

"So what's the story, morning glory?" It was strange how much calmer she was now, as if by entering the building, her rage had merely been tucked into a distant corner of her mind. It was there, but muted. Adara drew her knees to her chest and took a sip of the scalding tea.

"Shit," she muttered, breathing in to cool her burned tongue. She paused, running her finger around the rim of the mug. "Tidus is being irrational."

Kai chuckled shortly. "That's what he just said about you." Adara turned sharply to Kai, meeting his warm honey gaze.

"You're talking to him?!" she exclaimed. "I've thought about it! It's not that crazy. It's stupid to think that I'm going to be fine living like this. My body is dying. Doesn't that make any sense to him?" Adara angrily crossed her legs; her foot tapping an irritated rhythm on what she thought was a coffee table. "I woke up this morning," she started. _Alone,_ she snapped mentally. "I could _feel_ myself for a moment, and I knew-." She halted. It had been just for a fleeting moment when she'd woken, but she was so sure that she needed to confront- _who? What, exactly?_ She grappled for that sickening decay she'd felt, but it was almost as if someone were pulling it from her mind.

"Think of all the things you'd lose if you were… like us," Kai suggested slowly, causing her to lose the solid memory completely.

"I've already lost them," she snapped. "Is there any sort of benefit as I am?" Next to her, Kai shifted, pulling the tea mug gently from her hands and setting it down with a clink.

"Feel this," he told her softly. He pulled her palm against his chest. It was perfectly still beneath the fabric of his shirt.

"I know," Adara said, pulling away. She placed her hand against her own heart, which was beating quietly. "It's going to stop."

"Then why not live until it does?"

"Because I would die then!" She heard Kai sigh heavily.

"Everyone dies."

"Except for you!" Adara looked steadily at Kai. "Don't you want to share your lives with people? I know your hearts may not beat, and you may not be alive, but you can love – I know you can." She paused. Her head hurt. She couldn't seem to keep track of what point she was trying to make on the whole, as if she couldn't focus on anything but the fact that she was scared – terrified of… _dying._ "I feel you every time with Kate, and I wish I could trade predicaments with you." As she spoke, she felt Kai tense, his aura shifting away from the room.

"Adara, please don't." She scrambled for his hands next to her.

"Could you talk to him, at least?" she asked, beseeching, when he picked up her hands when she couldn't find his own her own.

"I'm trying, kiddo'," he told her, standing, pulling his hands away after a soft squeeze. Adara felt him touch her shoulder gently. "I'll be back in a little while, okay? Just chill out here with Renee and Casey." She listened to him move away from her, rustling something that sounded like the material of a waterproof; his presence then vanished.

Adara fingered the clay mold of her mug, tucking her legs underneath her body, pushing herself into the arm of the couch. Shifting her mug into her left hand, she fumbled with her right to search for the coffee table. She discovered a smooth, glass-top side table where she set her mug of tea.

A wet nose at her knee told her that one of the dogs was before her. She reached forward to stroke her ears, and met Renee's warm, honey-toned gaze.

"I feel like a complete _idiot_," she confessed to Kai's companion. _Like a burden_. "What am I doing here?" she asked the canine, rubbing Renee's soft, flopping ears. Again, she thought of the first moment of her day, when she'd woken choking on her own breath, only to feel as if someone were snatching her throat with iron hands. And then, she'd been fine, as if it had never happened.

"That's the problem!" she stated. "I can't keep track of anything anymore. Something is going on and I don't know what that was and it just makes sense," she said to Renee. "Because then I would be fine, and I _know_ that I'm going to die."

And now she cared.

She thought back to New York, back to when she'd jump in front of taxies just for the hell of it, or when she'd first held a spoon over a cigarette lighter because it didn't matter. But now it _did_. For whatever reason, whether she liked Boston better, or had finally given up on Evan, or if it was that nagging feeling in her heart that it was Tidus, a man she'd never even _seen_ with her own eyes.

"Because?" she asked Renee. Stroking the dog's head one last time, she stood up forcefully, walking forwards. She spun on her heel, now meeting Casey's dark eyes.

"What's _wrong _with me?" she demanded to no one, turning again and pacing across the floor. "I don't even think about it anymore! I should be-." She could feel her spine arching against rough wood, clawing at the tattered curtains of that apartment, screaming at the awful way her body shook without control.

But she stood here in Kai's home, her feet slapping the smooth floor, wearing a dress that was probably worth more than her pathetic little life-.

"_Fuck_!" she howled, as she tripped over a hard chair and fell into a table, knocking her forehead against it as she fell onto the floor. She let her head fall back as she rolled onto her back, staring at a ceiling she couldn't see. Adara angrily shoved the tumbled chair away with her foot, letting her body splay across the floor as if she'd been dropped there. Her head pounded.

"Fuck me," she groaned, rubbing her temples, drawing her knees upwards. When Casey prodded her shoulder with her paw, Adara shifted to her side, waiting as her Shepherd lay down next to her. Twisting her fingers into Casey's ruff, she buried her face in her fur and squeezed her eyes shut.

"I want to see this," she said softly.She wanted Tidus to appear in that heart-attack manner to pull her up off of the floor, to tuck her into his arms and simply hold her against him.

Because when she'd woken up that morning, whatever that coughing was, it reminded her that she'd become afraid of what had always been happening to her – until now.

"Casey," she whimpered, knuckling away a few sandy tears. "I'm scared." She hugged the dog closer to her body as she shivered involuntarily on the cool floor.

_Of myself,_ she slowly thought after a moment. At her back, she felt movement, turning her head slightly only to have Renee lick her cheek and settle down behind her. On both sides, the dogs warmed her shoulders, their tails brushing against the skin of her legs, and as she drew a deep breath, Adara settled herself.

"Good girls," she murmured to both Renee and Casey, looking upwards again. Stretching her body slightly on the hardwood floor, she pondered the shadow of the ceiling, wondering if it was raining in New York. "It should be raining," she told them.

--

Tidus stalked across the field, his hair whipping in the strong wind pulling in from the ocean. The water was dark and frothing, a tempest rapidly approaching the coast. He was glad that it suited his mood. He didn't know whether to be outraged, fearful, or simply blown away by Adara.

"Christ," he muttered, teeth clenched. Walking to the sheer drop where the field cut down onto the craggy coastline, he swung himself over the edge, his hands grasping thick weeds and deep-rooted grass. Swinging for a moment, he kicked off the edge, taking a moment to fall. He landed in a deep crouch, standing slowly as a wave crashed tremendously, spraying him with salt water.

Tossing his hair and eyes free of it, he continued walking through the rocks carved by time and water. The gulls had abandoned the shore for cover in the grasses, and the closest fish Tidus could sense was foolishly riding the beginnings of the next wave, about two hundred yards offshore.

Bending slightly, Tidus reached into the nearest tide pool, gathering the rough pebbles lying in its base. Standing square, he faced the tempest and hurled them all into the ocean. The rocks scattered in the thrashing wind, but every one of them outreached the thrill-seeking fish. Rain began to pelt his face, patterning the water's surface.

He had fooled himself into thinking that it would be fine if Adara could simply remain naïve about the state of her own body. She was designed, as a human, for constant adaptation. In absence of such, her conscience, as a host, retaliated against his control by reenacting a memory in present. Thus, it set the gears rolling against him, though it was merely a resource by illusion, a reflex of sorts merely to induce change.

_That's where it came from, where she even got the idea._ Tidus continued moving along the coastline, barely aware of the fact that his jeans were now soaked to the knee. A sudden clap of thunder made his thoughts stammer, and he snapped his gaze upwards under the sheeting of rain.

"Fuck," he murmured, gingerly rubbing his ears. The echo faded, followed by a bolt of lighting over the ocean that lit up the gloomy coastline for an instant. He knuckled the rain out of his eyes, giving his head a quick shake before moving to higher ground as the waves increased the intensity of their ambush.

"She had to start thinking forward," he said to himself, grabbing a handhold on a shelf of crumbling slate and tossing himself upwards. As his stood, he glanced up towards the edge of the cliff. Someone was approaching, but his hearing was deafened by the noise of the rain and the waves. Hardly any scent other than that of rainwater was detectable.

_Chill, Tidus – just me. Who else would come after you in this shit? _Tidus relaxed as he saw Kai stop at the edge and stare down at him with a quirky grin on his face. "What the fuck are you doing out here?" Kai called. Tidus noted that his friend had at least been wise enough to throw on a navy blue raincoat.

He watched Kai scout the landscape before, in a blur, he stepped nonchalantly from the face of the cliff and landed on a relatively smooth plate of rock that descended towards the level at which Tidus stood now. As Kai began sliding down the slide-like formation, he cracked a wide smile.

He hollered incoherently into the storm, arms raised. With a twist of reckless footwork he skidded over a deep crack in his path and slid over the slick surface only to nearly ram into Tidus as he tried to stop. At the last second possibly, Tidus turned out of Kai's way and watched as his friend sailed over the edge of the incline he'd just scaled. "Fuck!" At the swift oath, Tidus cracked a grin.

He walked over to the edge and peered down as Kai gingerly sat up, good humor intact. Kai stood, rolling his left ankle with a sickening crunch before he stepped down on it. He then walked over towards the cliff and shrugged his right shoulder. "Dislocated it again," he commented.

"Here," Tidus crouched and reached down with one hand to haul Kai up by his good arm. "Want me to pop it in for you?" Kai moved away, his head tilted to one side as he grabbed hold of his upper arm.

"Nah." Mouth tight, he jerked his shoulder back into place with a snap and a grimace. Rotating it, he broke a sheepish grin. "Grosses me out every time."

The two began walking in silence across the rocks, steadily climbing back to the grassy overhang above them. When they reached the field, Tidus forced himself to exhale in an effort to relax. Kai stood next to him, hands in his pocket as they both looked out onto the ocean.

"So what are you going to do now?" Kai asked quietly, keeping his eyes on the water.

_I don't know_. Tidus pushed his hair out of his eyes, letting it lie slicked against his skull. "I'm trying not to be dense about this, but-." He fell silent, crossing his arms as he thought about where Adara had gone that morning as she had climbed the tree. He'd been focused on her legs at the time, not even bothering to press her mind as he'd become accustomed to leaving it be. As she had maneuvered herself onto the branch, he'd wanted nothing more than to reach out and press his hand against the revealed skin, feel the pulse of blood beneath his palm.

"You've got to at least give her an explanation either way," Kai stated, interrupting his drifting focus. Tidus exhaled again.

"No, I won't turn you because I don't want to lose the way you are now?" he mimicked. _That sounds so stupid,_ he added. "The human psyche isn't designed for eternity. She'd go through what practically every fledgling goes through: a complete personality revamping."

"And that scares you?" Kai's tone was teasing, but his eyes were serious. Tidus snarled inwardly at the word, narrowing his eyes.

"_No_," he said forcefully. "It should scare _her_."

"She doesn't even know what would happen. Maybe if you explain-."

"I shouldn't have to!" Tidus snapped. "She shouldn't even be thinking about this – I've got her under control-."

"Except you don't," Kai interrupted, turning towards Tidus, fixing his gaze. "It doesn't matter if you have control of her – it's the subconscious that can still somehow manage to slip past any one of us. She's naturally disinclined to stasis, and you're almost forcing her body into a semi-immortal state as it is!" _You've got to give her one or the other, and you've got to communicate the consequences of each to her. You can't just hold her like this because each path presents the opportunity of her leaving._

Kai shook his head free of rainwater and turned, trudging back across the field. _Trust her at least enough to let her go. She won't stay away, or she wouldn't have come back in the first place._

Tidus watched his friend slowly disappear and turned back towards the ocean. He continued to leave Adara's mind free for the moment, trying to decide when exactly he'd stopped preserving a human life and started inadvertently consuming one.

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_**Review Responses:**_

_fliccolo: _Thanks for the review!

_atreyu love: _I'm still wondering what's going to happen next! There are so many different directions I could take this story… that's part of the reason why it's been taking me so long to update these past couple of chapters. I have to play through every different idea at least twenty times before I can cut even one of them off of my list. Sigh… thanks for reading, and I hope you liked Chapter XXIII!

_Sonora-Margaret_: I know what you mean about not getting to see people. That's how it is for me too, since I live about a gazillion miles away from any of my friends. Pooh. Hope you liked Chapter XXIII!

_ALittleTooAddicted_: I wonder if you've come up with a word from that dictionary of yours. XD Kaethe is pronounced just as you would say the letter 'k,' with the 'th' coming right afterwards. I'm sure there are other pronunciations, but that's the one that I use in my head. Thanks for reviewing!

_Emma_: Haha… sometimes I think I make him act a little too human. Oh well-io. That's something that can be fixed when I'm ready to start editing, no? Thanks for reviewing!

_The Greeter of Darkness_: Yeah… Adara's head is a little… "effed" right now, if that's the right way to explain it. It's so much fun to write though!

_The Goddess of Night:_ Thanks for the review!

_Rebecca Andrews:_ Gah… I've fallen off the face of the earth again. Sorry! B2W kinda helped me kick my own butt about getting this one out there. How goes life? Miss you!

_Between2Worlds:_ As I said above, you can probably take credit for this whole chapter. Merci, mon amie! I cannot wait to hear what you think about this.

_so not telling: _Well, unfortunately, I probably disappointed you with the time it took to update. Jeez – I disappointed myself. Anyhow, now that my rear got in gear: I'm not planning on mentioning any of AAR's characters, simply because I never truly intended this story to be _about_ any of her characters. Her books simply were a sort of stimulus for DP. Plus, gets a lot more traffic than Fiction Press, and I came to these sites to receive commentary on my writing and try and see if DP is worth the effort to try and (eventually) get it published. Thanks for your review, and I hope you liked Ch. XXIII!

_UsagiMiyuki_: Thanks for the review! Hope you liked Ch. XXIII.

_brittany: _Haha – all of you at will be the first people to know if I end up publishing DP. I still haven't gotten it finished – that's what you're all helping me do. I'll admit that I need the ass-kicking sometimes. Hope you enjoyed Ch. XXIII!

_ShadeSpirit: _Two months… more like an entire year. My apologies. Yeah… the cliffhanger wasn't so nice of me, but I'm sure that no one's having a problem deterring what's going on in Adara's head, no? I have a playlist for DP that I listen to when I write – much of it has changed since the last post of it I put up (a couple of chapters ago? I don't remember… I'm sure it wouldn't take long just to go through them all to find it.) Currently, I'm working on editing it again – since I listen to it so much that I get sick of songs after a while. I like a lot of folk/rock most of the time, plus some alternative/pop stuff thrown in for variety. I'll pretty much listen to anything thought – just kinda depends on the particular song. What do you like listening to when you write? Some of the chapters in DP are the way they are purely because of the song(s) I was listening to when I wrote them. Thanks for the review and hope you liked this chapter!

_The Puce Olive_: Seems like a bunch of you guys liked the Tidus POV – kept that coming in this chapter. Boy is he pissed, but you have to admit that he's being, as usual, a bit dense. Gotta' love it though, no? Thanks for reviewing!

_Tabbitha Graves_: I'm so glad that you enjoyed the last chapter – I apologize for the long wait for this one, but hopefully it stays on par with the rest of DP. Thanks for reviewing!

_Videogurl_: Haha – glad to know another Rent-head is out there. I'm so sad that they've ended the touring. Ten years is pretty dramatic for a Broadway play. The musical had a lot to do with the initial inspiration for DP, but I've drifted a little further off since then to make the story a bit more of my own and less second-party influenced. Just goes to show how the plot grows with you, no? Thanks for the review, and hope you liked this chapter!

_AvaDarling_: I've gotten the Stephenie Meyer comparison before, and it pains me to think that, if I publish, I'll be automatically a knock-off of "her" genre. Oh well – not that I'm complaining. I'm a HUGE fan of hers, and I simply cannot wait for Breaking Dawn to come out next week. Thanks for reviewing!

_WinterNightWolf_: You think she'll leave Tidus if she becomes a vampire? What makes you think that? It's so interesting to hear people's different views on the characters in DP. Some people think this, others that. Fortunately, Adara's got a lot ahead of her as far as this story goes. Can't wait for what's coming up for you guys. Thanks for the review!

_Wishiwasaneagle_: Only the second fanfiction you've read and it was MY story! I'm simply honored. I hope you kept up reading through this chapter. Thanks for the review!

_Kerri_: Muahaha, no? I'm so glad that you hold DP in high regard – I'll do my best to not disappoint you with stopping. I have no plans for dropping it, but I suppose you never know? I hope to eventually get this published, but only in the distant future at present. A little too much on my plate right now. Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Thanks so much for reviewing!

_GoodnightMoon7_: I love "Goodnight Moon!" I can remember having my dad read it to me when I was a little kid and… here I go off rambling. I know that I've switched around with Adara's eyes – it took me a while to decide when I started the story, and I guess I still juggle the decision. She's _supposed_ to have sapphire-blue eyes, but I guess I've slipped up. I will eventually get around to editing, so no worries on your part. Heck – you can make her have purple eyes in your head if you want. Sorry about the delay in updating – hope you liked this chapter!

_Kagaya-mitsukai_: Haha – some of the people who've been consistently reviewing since DP started have figured out that I speak French, and we sometimes just slip into the other language. I'm so rusty right now since I've been out of school - I just embarrassed myself trying to type this review in French. Thanks so much for suggesting "Dirty Water" – I need some new songs to work with as I write DP. I'll do my best to find it a spot. Thanks for reviewing!

_hot-chick102693_: Thanks for the review!

_Lone-Angel102693_: Thanks for the review!

_Blaize Raiden_: Thanks for reviewing – I try my best to stay consistent, even though I take so g-dang long to update… I know, I know. Thanks for sticking with me – hope you liked this chapter!

_Tasha_: Thanks for the review – sorry about the delay! Your review was just what I needed in March – a swift kick in the rear. I've been working on this chapter (and the rest of DP – at least the "in my head" part) since then, so give yourself a pat on the back, and hope you enjoyed this chapter!

_frogsandsnails_: Thanks for the review, and hope you liked Ch. XXIII!

_Anonymous_: Thanks for reviewing!

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**Notes: Can't tell you when the next chapter will be up, but I promise that I've finally gotten a solid outline in my head for where DP's going to go. We definately still have plenty of time before it ends, but I just wanted to let you all know where I am. There are a bunch of extra "activities" that were planned somewhere along the line and never got put in where they might have fit. Any interest in me posting these once I've got them finished?**

**Love you all!

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